


Agent Nocturne

by DeadAesthetics



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Amnesia, Bisexual Character, Bottoming from the Top, Coping, Dead Characters, Dubious Consent, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, F/M, FUCK, Flashbacks, Gaslighting, Hallucinations, I'm writing tentacle porn while doing these tags lmfoa, Impulse Control, Insanity, Internal Conflict, Lots of Tentacle Sex, Love/Hate, M/M, Murder, Resurrection, Sexual Confusion, Tentacle Dick, Tentacle Sex, Unrequited Love, Vigilantism, dark themes, grey morality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2018-12-12 22:58:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11746962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadAesthetics/pseuds/DeadAesthetics
Summary: When a new hero shows up and botches one of Black Hat's business deals using abilities disturbingly similar to his own, Black Hat will stop at nothing to unravel the mystery that is this strange figure.





	1. When Good Deals Go Bad

**Author's Note:**

> So I’m new to both Villainous and AO3 so before you crucify me just keep that in mind. I am not, however, new to the concept of writing, so you can stop holding your collective breaths. Regardless, this is my first fanfiction I’ve written in awhile, so I know personally it’s going to take a while to get back into the swing of things. Bear with me, because I know I’m not bearing with myself right about now. I’m going to stop the dry prelude bs now. You’re welcome.

**Chapter 1: When Good Deals Go Bad**

 

Black Hat was a creature of many names. Some of the most common being: villain, demon, monster, and the like. These days, however, he fancied himself a businessman. And if one thing was for sure, there wasn’t a thing he wasn’t willing to do to make sure his buyers got what they wanted. And that was exactly why, at the moment, he found himself halfway around the world on the banks of the Seine River in Paris, France.

Paris, the City of Love, as the humans liked to call it. That one word that ruled them all. One word, one singular concept that held so much power over those who dwell upon this planet. It had the power to stop wars and end them, it had countless times across human history caused empires to rise and fall, allegiances to ebb and flow, blessed the humans to enter this world and cursed them to leave.

Love.

Black Hat had wondered once what it might feel like to _love_ something, not that he was capable of it, or even much cared for it at all, for obvious reasons. He was a man of business after all, and why bother with something like love when he would much rather spread his influence across the planet through the products of his company, getting rich off of desperate villains and the heroes they so eagerly do battle with day in and day out.

Here was a prime example, his current client: an older woman, one ‘Madame Cyanide’, dull name he supposed, but who was he to judge? Madame Cyanide had been having problems with a certain hero lately, another idiot in tights, one you’d most likely forget about immediately after hearing their name once. She’d commissioned Black Hat a bio-weapon capable of poisoning an entire city’s water supply in less than a week, something about springing an irresistible trap, he hadn’t really listened to that part over the phone, only the amount she was willing to pay and how soon she wanted it.

Unfortunately, biological warfare wasn’t exactly something you could just send in the mail, so he had to make a trip to a predetermined meeting point, which just so happened to be in Paris. He didn’t mind however, like mentioned prior, there wasn’t anything he wasn’t willing to do to make sure his buyer got their product. Not to mention, the charitable Madame Cyanide was willing to pay a crisp $40,000,000 dollars for the weapon. She certainly meant business.

Black Hat had arrived at the meeting location on time, as always, stepping out of the all black sedan, a metal briefcase in hand as he tightened his tie. Madame Cyanide was already there, along with a small army of bodyguards behind her. Despite this, she strolled up with no fear in her aged eyes, clad in a pale blue dress with a fur neck scarf draped around her shoulders, wearing a knowing smirk as she strutted up to Black Hat.

“Black Hat, darling, impeccable timing as usual.” The woman purred as she held the back of her hand out to the demon, and it didn’t take long for Black Hat to realize what she was waiting for, as he took her hand and kissed it, expertly hiding his disgust.

“Well, what kind of businessman would I be to keep you waiting?” He smoothly replies, noticing the woman's’ eyes flicking to the briefcase momentarily. Black Hat lets out a dark chuckle, his eyes never leaving hers.

“I trust you have what I came here for?” Black Hat asks in a way that would make any logical human being know not to deny him what he wants. Madame Cyanide lets out a small chuckle as she snaps her fingers and two of her bodyguards walk up, one with a metal briefcase similar to Black Hat’s and the other with a small foldable wooden table.

The table is unfolded and set down next to Madame Cyanide and the briefcase is set atop it, the bodyguard clicking the lock and opening the case, his hands still on it after it had been opened. Black Hat could practically smell the profit, as he inspected the cash to ensure it was in fact real.

Black Hat grinned as he snapped his own fingers as the briefcase in his hand disappears, Madame Cyanide frowning slightly, opening her mouth to say something before a table suddenly appears from thin air in front of her, a black container sitting atop it as Black Hat continues to grin.

“Go ahead, open it.” He says, and one of Madame Cyanides bodyguards move to open it for her but she slaps his hand away, moving to open it herself. She lays her hands upon the case, eyes flicking to Black Hat’s momentarily as if expecting some other form of trickery before she opens the case, her face practically glowing as she lays eyes on her prize. The cruelest grin imaginable from a woman of her age spreads across her face as she stands fully.

“Black Hat, you never disappoint.”

After the deal had been made Black Hat had made his way back to the black four-door fairly quickly but none too quick enough to arouse suspicion. He had simply wanted to leave as fast as he could, for he didn’t like to stay around long after making deals as auspicious as this one.

He sat in the back seat of the sedan, his chauffeur waiting diligently for directions as Black Hat took his phone out to make a brief call.

Unbeknownst to him, a new player had entered the proverbial game.

As Madame Cyanide’s crew cleaned up the surrounding area of the deal to make sure there was no trace of them ever being there, a lone figure sat perched on an adjacent rooftop, surveying the scene below. He had arrived late enough to miss the deal, but not late enough to ensure that the rumoured bioweapon would be secured.

Standing to his full height, a figure clad in black, sporting a black facemask covering up to his eyes cracks his knuckles, craning his neck from side to side before taking one final breath.

“Showtime.”

Madame Cyanide yelps as something hits the roof of the limousine she was sitting in. She quickly opens the door and gets out of the car.

“What in the name of-” She turns around to see a man in black clothing crouched on top of her limousine, the sound of two dozen rifles suddenly trained on this figure coming from all around her.

“Attention purveyors of all things evil: All your bioweapon are now belong to me.” He says in an unconvincing voice, he couldn’t have been older than 20, tops.

A thunderous rupture of laughter from all around breaks the following silence and even Madame Cyanide herself finds herself smiling. “ _You_ have come to steal from _me?_ ” She shakes her head from side to side.

“Boys, clean up this trash. I’ll be waiting in the car.” She says as she does just that, taking out a mirror and applying makeup to hide her aging face. The sound of assault rifles going off in the distance were dull outside the soundproofed car, as she hummed to herself silently.

A few minutes later, after the sound of gunshots had subsided she slid the black divider to the side, wondering why the car hadn’t started moving yet.

“What the _hell_ is taking you people so long?” She asks her driver but when he turns around she is only met with a black facemask with two purple, glowing orbs where eyes should be.

“Boo.” The man simply says as he is met with a look of utter horror.

 

Black Hat had been alerted when the sound of gunshots registered over the sound of his pilot's voice over the phone. He turned to see something he hadn’t quite expected to see that night.

“I’ll call you back.” Black Hat says as he hangs up on his pilot.

A man, head to toe in some sort of black material, perhaps armor of some sort, stood perfectly still atop a limousine as Madame Cyanide’s men unleashed rounds upon rounds of ammo into him, the bullets phasing right through him and out the other side as if the man were nothing but a cloud of smoke.

The man sighed, “You minion types just never learn, do you?” Black Hat could just barely make out what he was saying. His chauffeur made a move to hit the gas but Black Hat stopped him.

“Wait, I want to watch this.” His driver obeyed, albeit nervously as he kept his hands on the wheel.

He continued to watch in awe as he danced around Madame Cyanide’s men, picking them off one by one, showing incredible prowess in the art of hand to hand combat. Black Hat counted usage of at least a dozen different martial arts styles just watching this man.

He cleared out nearly thirty men in just a few minutes, and if this were just any normal human he might have been impressed, but something was definitely off here. Black Hat could tell this man wasn’t just any normal human, but he wasn’t any hero he’d ever seen or heard of either.

When all was said and done, he watched as the hero cheekily entered the driver’s side of Cyanide’s limousine, before stepping out moments later with the case carrying the bio-weapon in hand. The man pressed a finger to the side of his helmet/facemask contraption as if speaking to someone before turning around and walking towards a wall, the area around him becoming noticeably darker.

“Is he _daft_?” Black Hat finds himself silently questioning as the man appears to walk casually towards a brick wall, before disappearing entirely into a cloud of black smoke. Black Hat can’t help but let his jaw drop at this.

_He can shadow walk?_ Black Hat thinks to himself as he stares at the blank space where the man had once been. As far as Black Hat knew, only demonic creatures such as himself had the capability of bending shadows to their will, using them to open pockets in reality and teleport to different areas. And he knew for sure that this man was no demon, he would have easily been able to sense Black Hat’s presence. Besides, Black Hat himself was one of the last of his kind, and the only one on Earth to his knowledge.

_Unless…._

No, it wasn’t a possibility. Black Hat turns to his chauffeur, who had been sitting with a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel for the last few minutes, nodding for him to begin driving.

He didn’t waste much time thinking more about the subject. He had just successfully completed a highly lucrative sale, and was more than content with the profit, which was more than could be said for Madame Cyanide at the moment. He found himself grinning, he never really did like that woman.

Black Hat, the businessman, had more than ensured she got her product, his end of the bargain was finished, what happened after that was of no real concern to him.

Villains come and villains go, heroes rise and fall, but in the end, only he remained. That was the beauty of it all.


	2. Not A Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The strange figure who ambushed the deal in Paris is revealed to be Thomas Drake, a 19 year old college student working for a government agency devoted to nullifying the spread of weapons of mass destruction to villains around the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of backstory and character building in this one, I’m currently writing these back to back so I don’t know how many chapters I’ll finish before I actually upload the first chapter. I’ll most likely release the first few in bulk and then continue on releasing them one by one or something like that. This one is a bit longer than the previous just because I wanted to fit in a bit for Black Hat so it isn’t all yucky O/C crap because let’s be honest you’re all here for Black Hat (I know I am).

Amy Todd was a woman of simple pleasures, such as reading a book by the fireplace, or drinking hot cocoa on a cold October night, or, not to mention, worrying about her idiot boyfriend’s physical state of health at 1AM to the point where she can’t fall asleep.

 

So naturally, when she hears shuffling at the door, she’s a bit shaken up as she bolts out of bed, making sure to bring her trademark baseball bat with just in case. She rounds the corner to find herself both relieved and horrified at the sight of her boyfriend in the doorway, brandishing a sheepish grin, as well as a sightly black eye.

 

“ _ Tommy! _ ” She breathes as she walks up and embraces him, his arms closing around her soon after as he smiles lightly. She pulls away to put her hands on his face, staring into his eyes, his one good eye supporting a faintly glowing purple iris. 

 

“You’re early- o-oh my gosh Tommy, your  _ eye! _ ” Her brow creases as she lightly brushes her thumb over the bruise.

 

“...You didn’t go back to the HQ for medical care, did you?” She says, frowning. Again, he smiles, guilty.

 

“I wanted to see you…” He says in a small voice that Amy sees right through.

 

“Oh  _ bullshit  _ Thomas Drake. You just didn’t want to sit through a debriefing of your mission in Paris or whatever the hell it was you were doing there, you lazy ass.” She peers at him with judgemental eyes as Thomas holds his hands up in defense.

 

“Oh come on, Amy, you know I hate needles, and besides, Doctor Chakwa scares me... “ He says with knowing eyes, to which Amy scoffs.

 

“Tommy, Doctor Chakwa is the nicest woman I’ve ever met, how can you say that?” She says, her eyes practically radiating ‘are you kidding me?’

“Look, Aims, I’m telling you, there’s something off about her, she’s like a cat, planning to take over the world or something.” Amy just rolls her eyes, half at the cat joke and half at her boyfriend's usage of ‘Aims’ as a nickname and turns around, walking into the bathroom to find their medical supplies.

 

A few minutes later Amy and Thomas were sitting on their couch in the living room, Thomas shirtless as Amy was dressing his wounds, applying gauze where need be, Thomas holding an ice pack to his eye and wincing every now and then, followed by Amy telling him to stop being such a baby.

 

“You’re definitely sleeping on the couch tonight mister, I don’t want my bed covered in blood stains again.” Amy demands and Thomas moans in fake agony. “You’re still going off about that? I thought we were over this. Besides, I’ll probably heal up before the morning anyways….probably.” Amy gives him a questioning look as she puts the last bandage on, putting the roll of gauze back in the box of medical supplies.

 

Amy wraps her arms around her boyfriend’s shoulders after setting the supplies aside, giving him a peck on the cheek. ‘Y’know...just because you’re sleeping on the couch...doesn’t mean you have to sleep alone…” She grins devilishly as she speaks into Thomas’ ear. Thomas in turn glances over his shoulder at her as he hums softly. “Oh yeah?” he shares a knowing look with his girlfriend.

 

“Thomas Drake…..” She says to him softly. “You ever done it on a couch before?” Thomas creases his brow before chuckling softly. “Have you?” He replies, eyeing her. 

 

“First time for everything.” She says, as she pushes him onto the couch giggling…

  
  


The next morning Thomas wakes up with nothing but a dull ache in his joints, courtesy of his freaky superpowers that continue to even amaze him. The smell of eggs and toast coming from the other room is what gets him out of bed...er...couch, however, and he finds himself at the kitchen table, reading a note left by his girlfriend.

 

_ Thomas, _

 

_ Running late for work, food on the counter, might want to nuke them in case they got cold you lazy ass ;) See you tonight _

 

_ Amy _

 

He smiles at the note and microwaves the food left for him on the counter, eating them leisurely as he checks his phone for messages from work, and sure enough- ten missed calls from “Boss”. Thomas groans, leaning back in his chair, nearly falling out.

  
  


**_Later_ **

  
  


Dressed in a grey t-shirt and joggers, Thomas Drake walks up the front steps to St. Louis headquarters for the Catastrophe Aversion and Protection Agency, or “CAPA” for short. Thomas had been working here for nearly two years now, but unofficially, he had really been with the Agency for nearly four years, ever since his...abilities had surfaced, but due to child labor laws he couldn’t be employed for a government job full time until he had turned 18.

 

Of course, he had gladly accepted it after he had learned that the Agency would be paying for all of his college tuition, courtesy of his boss, who he’d done more than a few favors for up until he was fully employed. Over the last four years he’d grown a significant track record of good deeds and catastrophes averted, enough to get people around the Agency to start talking, even comparing him to some pretty well known heroes, but he wouldn’t have any of that.

 

He didn’t fancy himself a hero, he  _ wasn’t  _ a hero. Heroes ran into burning buildings not giving a second thought about their own personal health. What did he do? He beat the shit out of guys who didn’t stand a chance against him and stole weapons of mass destruction for the government. Didn’t sound very heroic to him.

 

No.

 

Not a hero.

 

Just a guy getting his tuition paid for.

 

Nonetheless, he still got a “codename” like all the other superpowered individuals did. 

 

“Hey, Agent Nocturne, good job securing that bio-weapon last night, heard you beat up like fifty guys!” Summer Hill, the receptionist at the front doors greeted him kindly.

 

“Please, Summer, it’s just Thomas or Agent Drake. And while I love having my ego fed, it was more like half that.” He replies, and the woman chuckles. “Well, still no easy feat, I wish I could go out into the field like you guys instead of being stuck behind this desk all day.” She says, almost dreamily.

 

_ No you don’t.  _ Thomas thinks to himself. He’d seen enough in the last four years to know that a person like Summer wouldn’t be able to handle what’s out there.

 

“Hey, Noc- er, Agent Drake, I saw Director Lykan this morning, he told me to let you know he wants to see you in his office, he sounded kinda angry, something you did?” She asks, curiously.

“Probably, knowing him. Don’t sweat it, thanks for letting me know.” He says, walking past Summer and up the stairs to the elevator. 

 

“You left a Category 5 Biological Weapon in the Mailing Department?!” came the angry voice of Director Lykan, Thomas’ boss and Director of CAPA. Thomas shrugs. “I figured it’d make it to you one way or another, besides, it was like 1 in the morning, you were probably already in bed with Miss Lykan or something, I wouldn’t want to interrupt that, eugh.” Thomas makes a noise as he sticks his tongue out in mock disgust.

 

Lykan breathes in heavily and exhales, closing his eyes as if he were relying on every fibre of his being not to cuss out the college sophomore in front of him.

 

“Agent Drake,” Lykan rubs his temples as he sits back in his chair, a few of the Mississippi River and part of Downtown St. Louis behind him. “...you have been in this department for nearly two years now, and have been in this line of work for even longer. You haven’t failed me on a single mission and I have been receiving nothing but good reports from all of your handlers since day one. Now I know you know that because I can tell when one of my agents is getting cocky. Believe me when I say this, don’t get reckless just because you’re good at your job, you’ll end up getting yourself or someone you care for hurt.” 

 

Thomas knew Lykan wasn’t big on lectures, and he also knew that he was speaking truthfully because he spoke in a cadence that wasn’t common for someone in his position. Thomas pursed his lips slightly and stared at his shoes.

 

“...Understood sir.” He says, biting his lip.

 

“Now get out of here, I’m giving everyone in your sector the day off. It goes without being said that you guys saved a lot of lives by retrieving that weapon last night.” Thomas nods to his Director as he turns, his hand on the doorknob as a thought comes to mind, turning back to Lykan.

 

“Sir...do you mind me asking  _ who  _ gave Madame Cyanide the bio-weapon?” Lykan’s dark skin pales at this question as Thomas continues, not seeming to notice. “It’s just...if this stuff is as dangerous as it sounds...who’s to say that it won’t just end up in the hands of some other villain...I feel like it would be a better usage of our resources to go after the  _ supplier,  _ that way-” 

 

“Enough.” He’s interrupted by Lykan, who holds his hand up, indicating for him to shut it. “You’ve been here long enough to know the capabilities of this Agency, and therefore you should assume that we have the situation under control.” Thomas freezes, the Director using a tone he hadn’t heard yet. It was low and quiet, yet hidden behind that facade it had all the ferocity of an enraged beast.

 

Thomas nods, before finally leaving without saying anything.

Director Lykan sits in his office, relaxing once more as he sighs, not liking having to use his feral nature against the young man, but he was persistent. Incredibly persistent, not to mention resilient, he hadn’t once managed to get the boy to back down without using his abilities against him. Resilient, yes, but not quite ready to handle the likes of the madman behind the aforementioned bio-weapon. Hell, it was a risk enough sending him out there last night with chances of  _ him  _ showing up in person, thankfully, from what it sounded like he was a no show.

 

The sound of an incoming call interrupted the Director’s train of thought. He opened his eyes and swiveled around in his chair to see the glowing yellow hologram in front of him, displaying the shrouded face of one of his superiors.

 

“The boy has started asking questions?” The voice asks, to which Lykan nods. “He...is getting pushy.” He admits. 

 

“When will he be ready?” The voice asks another question, to which the Director gives a pained expression. “I believe...he still needs some time…” The Director says slowly. “Not good enough, Director. We expect to see some results soon.” The call ends without the Director being able to say anything else. 

 

The Director looks down at the ground for a moment before roaring and throwing the monitor that the image was projecting from into the wall, the veins in his neck glowing a light pulsating yellow…

  
  


**Black Hat Manor**

 

A lone demon sat in a dark room, dimly lit by the glowing red windows behind him. He appeared to be contemplating something heavy, as his one eye was closed whilst he pressed his finger tips together in typical evildoer fashion. His contemplation, however, was brought to an abrupt halt as he heard a knock on his door.

 

“ _ Enter” _

 

In came Black Hat Incorporated’s resident scientist, Dr. Flug, spouting that same, annoying, look of fear that seemed to be permanently plastered to his face whenever he and Black Hat were in the same room.

 

“H-Hello, sir…..I….I have those news reports that you asked for, s-sir.” Flug says nervously, having stopped in the middle of the room, holding a wad of papers in front of him. When Flug doesn’t walk any further Black Hat growls and a tentacle reaches up to snatch the papers and bring them to the desk, not patient enough to wait for Flug to grow a pair.

 

“You are dismissed.” Black Hat simply says, not even bothering to watch as Flug quickly leaves, closing the door behind him. He can hear the sound of his fast paced footsteps grow quieter and quieter as he walks down the hall, presumably back to his lab to get more work done.

 

Black Hat sighs as he looks down at the wad of papers in front of him, each newspaper reports spanning nearly four years, all of them different in some way, but there still remained one common denominator: the same black figure in the picture.

 

Black Hat skims over a few of the titles, looking at the pictures that accompanied them.

 

_ Tugboat Heist on the Mississippi River Foiled by Shadow Man? _

 

_ Hostages Claim Shadow Saves Them? _

 

**_St Louis Shadow_ ** _ Strikes Again!  _

 

_ High School Prom Night Attacked By Ripjaw, Foiled By  _ **_St Louis Shadow_ ** _! _

 

_ Who is the  _ **_St Louis Shadow_ ** _? _

 

_ Chemical Attack on United Nations Thwarted by St Louis Shadow Man? _

 

_ Terrorist Nuclear Devices Seized By  _ **_NOCTURNE_ ** _! _

 

**_Nocturne = St Louis Shadow?_ **

 

_ Goodbye,  _ **_St Louis Shadow_ ** _ , Hello, _ **_Nocturne_ ** _! _

 

**_Nocturne_ ** _ , Hero or Vigilante? _

 

**_Nocturne,_ ** _ Textbook Example of Life After the Golden Age of Superheroes _

 

_ Heroes a Dying Breed, Vigilantes the new medium? _

 

**_Nocturne,_ ** _ Friend or Foe? _

 

As Black Hat read further and further through these past articles detailing this strange specimen, bits and pieces began to fall into place where they should, and he could tell he was already one step closer to finding out who…. _ what  _ this “Nocturne” character really is.

 

Black Hat couldn’t help but let a cruel grin spread across his face as he gave a low chuckle.

 

“We’ll see  _ Nocturne _ , just how  _ amazing  _ you really are. I can’t wait to meet you.” Black Hat says to himself, a picture of a black blur in the shape a man jumping across a rooftop displayed on the newspaper in his gloved hand...


	3. Dying Breed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Black Hat starts a fire at an apartment complex in an attempt to draw out the elusive 'Nocturne' figure, in hopes of getting a better idea of who he really is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Black Hat and Nocturne finally meet in this chapter, which I’m sure you’ve all been itching to see after two chapters worth of build up. Next chapter is going to be mostly them together as Black Hat tries to get to the bottom of the strange case that is Nocturne. After that Nocturne will most likely be spending a lot of “quality time” with dear Black Hat ;) Why is that? Guess you’ll have to find out in the next few chapters I have yet to write.

 

Black Hat had made a few very important calls in the last week, and had hardly left his office during that week, not that he needed to, he was on the heels of a large deal with one Madame Cyanide last week and that had easily filled all of his deals for the next month. He trusted he inspired enough fear into Flug to keep him working diligently while he was busy and Demencia...well, she was Demencia.

 

However, the aforementioned Flug and Demencia were starting to worry about their boss. He hadn’t come out of his office in six days and quite frankly, they were starting to wonder if he was even alive in there.

 

By now both of them were around the corner from said Black Hat’s office, peeking around the corner at the door from a safe distance as if they were ready for the door to attack them.

 

“What do you think he’s doing in there? Something evil?” Demencia asks Flug, a bit of a rhetorical question, that one. Flug shrugs. “I dunno, maybe he’s hibernating or something. No offense 5.0.5.” He says to the bear that had just walked up, who gave a confused “Baroo?” to the Doctor, before walking past them to wherever he had been planning on heading off to before.

 

“He asked me to give him a bunch of newspaper reports over a week ago matching the description of some weird hero type I’ve never heard of.” Flug says, and Demencia scratches her blood red hair. “Weird.” She says.

 

“What would he want with a bunch of newspapers?” to which Flug responds with a shrug, “Light reading?” By the time they had turned back around the corner again to look at the door, they saw it had opened, and both of them look at each other in confusion before hearing an “Ahem” behind them.

 

Both of them shrieked and hugged each other in a comic-like fashion as they see their boss looming behind them, inspecting his sharpened claws through his gloves.

“J-Jefecito! W-we were just, t-talking about-” Flug started but Black Hat merely held up a hand silencing him immediately as he turned to Demencia.

 

“Demencia, how practised are you in the art of arson?” Black Hat asks her, and as she processes what Black Hat means an ear to ear grin spreads across her face.

 

“How big are we talkin’ boss?”

 

**_Meanwhile_ **

 

Thomas Drake had been thoroughly enjoying his first day off in a while, having taken his girlfriend out for coffee and lunch. They were currently at a cafe at an outdoor mall in the city, having finished their food and simply conversing with each other at this point.

 

“So, was dear Director Lykan ready to tear you a new one?” Amy asks, sipping her coffee.

 

“Something like that, I couldn’t tell if he was angry or livid. Maybe he’s just finally taking advantage of the fact that I had my first screw up.” Thomas replies, not having needed much caffeine, due to the fact that it either wouldn’t work for him or he just naturally had more energy being the superpowered individual that he was.

 

“Oh come on, it couldn’t have been that bad.” Amy retorts, pouring another packet of sugar into her coffee.

 

“Yeah, well…” Thomas thinks back to having left a weapon of mass destruction in the CAPA Mailing Department. “I don’t think the Director found my sense of humor very appealing.” He replies, looking out the window to the cobblestone road meant strictly for passerby shopping at the mall.

 

“Y’know, you really need to stop working yourself so hard, Tommy. I get that you have a record you want to keep but you’re not alone out there. You have a bad habit of trying to get everything done yourself. You’re not Hercules, as much as you’d like to think so.” Amy says, putting her hand on his.

 

Thomas purses his lips and stares at the table, then sighs. “I’m not trying to beat any records, Amy. I’m just….looking for a distraction.” He admits and Amy looks at him with eyes that looked to be filled with some kind of pity.

 

“Oh, Tommy….I’m sorry if I’ve been hard on you lately, I’ve just been so worried with your work with the Agency, and you’ve been so busy I just feel like... ” She trails off, rubbing his hand with her thumb, and Thomas realizes how what he said could have been taken the wrong way.

 

His eyes widen and he shakes his head, “N-No, Amy, I didn’t mean it like that I just....I meant, I need a distraction from…” He sighs, “...from trying to figure myself out.” He says and Amy smiles, understanding.

 

“Trust me, you’re a welcome distraction.” He smiles and leans in to kiss her.

 

Before their lips can even touch, the sound of an explosion rocks the cafe building. Both of their eyes widen and they look out the window to see a plume of smoke rising from a few blocks away. Tommy looks at Amy, opening his mouth but before he can get a word out she pipes up.

 

“Go, I’ll get the car.” She says and they both stand.

 

“I’ll pay,” he offers but Amy shuts him up with a quick kiss that Thomas melts into.

 

“Don’t be a dingus Tommy Drake, _go!”_ She says and he grins, turning and running to the back door of the cafe.

  


It hadn’t been hard for Black Hat to find out where this _Nocturne_ resided. Every hero had their city, and two years worth of newspaper reports had broadcasted that Nocturne, the so called “St Louis Shadow” had operated in the city of the same name.

 

Now it was only a matter of drawing him out.

 

Black Hat watched as the firebombs Demencia had planted around the apartment complex all set off at once, ripping through the interior of the building as glass and rock exploded outwards in a beautiful symphony of destruction.

  
Black Hat exhaled deeply, clearly pleased with the work. It had been awhile since he’d done something like this, having been in retirement from barebones villain work for quite some time now, obviously having chosen company work over the like.

 

After all, why bother terrorizing the planet when you can get rich off of the idiots who will do it for you?

 

For a few moments it seemed as if his mystery man was going to be a no show, and Black Hat was just about ready to make his exit and let the local authorities do their job, and if Black Hat didn’t have the impeccable eyesight that only a demon could harbor, he just might have left.

 

But no, his hopes had not been let down, as he sees the faintest of blurs appear dancing along the rooftops to the north, making its way to the blazing building. This was without a doubt, the famed _Nocturne_.

 

Black Hat let a pleased grin slide across his face, holding his cane out in front of him with both hands as he stared at the scene below him.

 

_How interesting…_

 

Any other villain may have called him crazy for going to such lengths just to catch another glimpse at this...hero? Vigilante? Is that what they’re calling them now? He didn’t care, if his suspicions were made true, he’d be in for quite a long chat with this Nocturne figure.

  
  


The fire had come out of nowhere, Thomas had hardly expected anything this major to have broken out so suddenly in his home city. The fire was definitely deliberate, as no fire of this scale could have broken out so quickly.

 

But the question was, _who_? Who would be so bold as to start causing trouble in St. Louis again after the St Louis Shadow had driven out most if not all of the crime in the city? Thomas would definitely have to keep a watchful eye out, for whoever was bold enough to start something here and now, could potentially be a very dangerous adversary.

 

But now was a time for “hero work” as they called it. Thomas was starting to despise that word more and more every time he heard it. He wasn’t a hero, or so he told himself, but nonetheless, here he was, jumping into a burning building without even thinking of putting himself first, just as a hero should.

 

 _People at the Agency are going to have a field day with this,_ he thought to himself.

 

He scoured the complex up, down, left, and right to make sure everyone had gotten out safely, and just as he was about to leave himself, he heard a young woman’s voice calling for help.

 

He didn’t know what compelled him to get to this woman more, the fact that he had missed one and could have accidentally left without her, or the fact that her voice for whatever reason sounded _awfully_ similar to Amy’s.

 

The black cloud that was Nocturne sifted through cracks in the burning walls without so much as a scratch as he appeared once more as a normal human being, perks of being able to shift his matter into nothing but dust he supposed.

 

He arrived in a small room, flames and smoke all around causing visibility to be awfully low. Mumbling in annoyance, he motioned both of his hands outwards, as a bountiful amount of shadowy dust swirled around the room drowning the flames down to cinders.

Now he could see the woman, huddled in the corner, mascara smeared with the amount of tears that had been shed. Nocturne made sure to hide his face in a shroud of shadow so as not to give away his face, for he didn’t have his facemask with him at the moment.

 

“Hey, Hey, It’s alright, I’m gonna get you out of here okay?” He says in a soothing voice as he crouches down and offers this woman a hand.

 

“What’s your name?” He asks, as she looks nervous at the mysterious man in front of her.

 

“It’s Bl-Brianne” She stutters, clearly shaken up. Nocturne smiles.

 

“I’m…” he mentally sighed, knowing he’d have to use his stupid given name, “Nocturne. You’re safe now alright? Are you hurt?” He asks as she holds her arm up and he takes it in his hand, seeing a nasty gash on it.

 

“Oh, that’s nothing. EMT’s will be able to patch you right up.” He says in a comforting voice.

 

“Y-You don’t look like a hero…” She says, still a little skeptical. “Yeah, tights aren’t really my thing.” He jokes and he sees a small smile crease her lips.

 

“Can you stand?” He asks and she nods, slowly standing as he helps her up.

 

“Alright Brianne, I’m going to get you out of here, but I need you to close your eyes tight, can you do that for me?” He asks and she gives a shaky nod.

 

“Alright, close them tight.” He says, and as she does so he grabs her and a gust of shadows swirls around them and suddenly they’re on the grass outside the complex, surrounded by police, firemen, and paramedics.

 

Two EMT’s walk up to the woman and take her to an ambulance, and Thomas pulls his hood up, keeping himself scarce as he flees from the scene hoping no one had seen him.

 

Oh but someone had seen him, Brianne found herself chuckling as she watched him walk off, skin peeling back almost as if it were a layer of skin burning off of her, revealing the culprit beneath.

 

Black Hat grins as he watches Nocturne walk off, disappearing into a cloud of shadows, Black Hat soon doing the same himself, the EMTs arriving soon after to see Brianne had all but disappeared...

  


Black Hat was more than pleased with the outcome of today’s little experiment. He’d gotten more than he wanted in the way of seeing the extent of Nocturne’s abilities, and after what he’d just witnessed...there was hardly a doubt in his mind that this man’s abilities were demonic in nature.

 

Now all there was left to do was find out just who was hiding under that shadowy facade…

 

And Black Hat knew just who to talk to for that.

  


Deep underneath the Rocky Mountains of the United States there was a place, a hole dug out and meant for only one man, going by the moniker of ‘Ripjaw’.

 

For two years Ripjaw had sat in that hole, bound, and unmoving, unable to speak for his metal jaw sporting titanium daggers for teeth had been clamped shut forcefully, a muzzle permanently screwed into his skull.

 

One might think that this had been a violation of basic human rights, but if you were sent to this hole, in the eyes of the law you had no rights.

 

And Ripjaw was not entirely undeserving, his last act of terror having been to attack a suburban St. Louis High School in search of the only thing that mattered to him: revenge.

 

Had Nocturne not shown up that night to put an end to his reign of terror for good, officials say he would have done a lot worse than utterly destroy the school.

 

The police said he was merely trying to draw out the famed shadow for a fight but that isn’t truly what happened. It was a secret kept between Ripjaw and Nocturne exclusively, a secret bound by the contraption clamped to his head.

 

And Black Hat wanted in on it.

 

Ripjaw hadn’t gotten a lot of visitors lately, or ever for that matter. But Black Hat was here for business, and that held priority, so of course he stopped by. Ripjaw was the only villain to have ever lasted in a fight with Nocturne, and Black Hat knew that he knew something he didn’t. And Black Hat hated being kept in the dark.

 

Ripjaw smelled something different in the air. He smelled fear, but not the kind that came from humans he was in the middle of devouring or crushing the life out of. No, this was _fear itself._

 

He glanced up, predatory eyes lying upon the figure before him. A man going by the name of Black Hat. He knew this Black Hat, he had only ever done business with him once, and oh, he wasn’t disappointed. His customers seldom were.

 

But why he was here now was a mystery to him. He peered at the demon, looking him up and down as if trying to sense some sort of trickery, letting out a low guttural growl through the muzzle.

 

Black Hat, noticing this, chuckled darkly. “Let’s spare the pleasantries, I’m here for information, not your head.” He snaps his fingers and suddenly the muzzle is gone. Ripjaw looks downwards, confused at first before he lets out a low, rumbling cackle.

 

“An’ why should ah trust ya’?” Ripjaw asks in a deep creole accent, hinting at his descendance.

 

“Because I’m the one that just gave you the freedom of speech.” Black Hat inspects his claws nonchalantly before stepping forwards, not showing much care for the fact that he was in chomping range of the humongous man before him.

 

“Tell me everything you know about the St Louis Shadow, and maybe I’ll let you keep that freedom.” He says, eye to eye with the monster in front of him.

 

Ripjaw is quiet as if thinking momentarily before an enormous, loud, cackle erupts from deep within his chest. Black Hat purses his lip slightly, patiently waiting for the man to have his fun.

 

“Ohhh, he’s a feisty one, tha’ one.” He chuckles again, and Black Hat peers his one good eye at the beast, leaning in slightly as if desperate to hear more.

 

“Tha’ reason I’m in this cage, ya.” Ripjaw grinds his teeth in anger, making for a cacophonic ensemble. Black Hat doesn’t seem fazed.

 

“As ya’ may know ba’ now, bullets can’t harm him, neither cah’ knives an’ such,” Ripjaw explains, and Black Hat nods, having seen all this for himself already. “But….he ain’t immune to a little electrotherapy.” Ripjaw grins, letting out another low chuckle as if remembering the first time he found this out.

 

“An’ I tell you wha’...” Ripjaw starts, “...’ah know who he is…” Ripjaw grins, metal razors glinting in the low light of the cell. Black Hat mirrors the grin, extremely pleased.

 

“I confess, Ripjaw, I am impressed. Now, where do I find him?” Black Hat asks.

 

“Ah’ heard he’s working for tha’ CAPA suits now...goes ba’ some otha’ name. Nocturnal or something of tha’ sort.” Black Hat nods, that would make sense as to why his whereabouts had inexplicably gone international in the last two years.

 

“And his name?” Black Hat asks. Ripjaw grins.

 

“Thomas Drake.”

  
  


After driving home with Amy, Thomas had taken a well needed shower, even though he was pretty certain the smell of smoke hadn’t gone away. He opened all of his windows and lit some of Amy’s incense, spraying himself with an obscenely teenage amount of cologne before deciding to take a nap.

 

Awaking sometime later to the sound of his phone going off, he pulls himself out of bed and picks up his phone, answering it.

 

“Ugh, Hello?” He rubs his groggy eyes.

 

“Thomas, this is important, we need you down at the office immediately.” Came the sound of Director Lykan’s voice.

 

Thomas sighs. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.” Pulling on some clean clothes, Thomas morphs into a cloud of shadows and sifts through the screen on the window…

 

When he arrived at the CAPA Headquarters, it seemed as if everyone was trying to get somewhere, it was almost a hassle to get through the crowds of agents. He arrived at Lykan’s office, shutting the door behind him carefully.

 

“Sir, you wanted to see me?” Thomas asks and Lykan turns to him.

 

“Agent Drake, you remember Ripjaw, correct?” the Director asks and Thomas sighs, eyes cast down momentarily.

 

“Yeah, how could I forget?” He says, and Lykan throws a picture onto the desk in front of him, Thomas stopping it from slipping off the desk with a single finger before picking it up.

 

“Jesus…” He breathes as he stares at the mutilated corpse that was once Ripjaw, a mere metal jaw full of spiked teeth that hadn’t ever left his nightmares since that night two years ago, was all that was left in the pile that used to be Ripjaw.

 

“What the hell happened to him?” He asked and Lykan exhales as if he were about to reveal something he didn’t want to.

 

“That picture was taken last night, a few minutes after this one.” He says, setting another image on the table, a CCTV feed of the prison Ripjaw must have been locked up in, he couldn’t see much for a moment, it only looking like a black smudge on the camera lense.

 

“What do you see?” Lykan asks, lighting a cigar. Thomas squints at the image, able to make out the figure of a man in a top hat.

 

“Just looks like some dude in a top hat.” He says, putting the image back on the table.

 

“He was there at the prison. No one else saw him enter or leave, and that’s the only picture that captured him.” Lykan explains.

  
“Do you know who it might be?” Thomas asks as he stares at the image once more.

 

“We have a few ideas, no one you’d know, thankfully.” Lykan says in a way that discomforts Thomas.

 

“Well, do you need any help? If there’s anything I can do to aid the investigation I wi-” he’s abruptly cut off by the Director. “No, the only reason I had you called in here is so that you didn’t find out about Ripjaw’s death some other way. You deserve to know, after what he’s done to you.” Thomas closes his mouth slowly and nods.

 

“Well...alright…” He sighs in defeat and then looks back up to Lykan.

 

“Sir... you’re aware of the fire that happened downtown earlier today, correct?” He asks, and Lykan nods. “Yes, superb work as usual, Agent Drake.” He says, eyeing the young man carefully. “Have the police found out who started the fire yet? I had a really weird feeling the whole time I was...doing my thing....I had the same feeling while I was retrieving the bio-weapon in Paris last week.” Lykan purses his lips.

 

“Elaborate.” He says as he turns to stare out at the nighttime lights of the city.

 

“I felt...cold...like something I couldn’t see was watching me…” Thomas chuckles at the thought of what he says next, “...like there was a ghost following me or something…” He shakes his head at the thought.

 

“You aren’t implying a belief in the supernatural, are you Agent Drake?” Lykan says, taking a puff of his cigar, to which Thomas shakes his head.

 

“No, no sir...ah, nevermind. I’m probably just not getting enough sleep. Thanks for telling me about Ripjaw sir, see you Monday.” He says as he walks to the door.

 

“Thomas,” Lykan calls, using his first name, which said Thomas turns to look over his shoulder after hearing. “Watch yourself, yes?” Lykan says, smoking his cigar with a weary look in his eyes.

 

“Yes sir.” Thomas says, walking out into the hall.

 

He called Amy, and left a message telling her he’d be home soon when she didn’t pick up. He arrived home soon after, having taken the train as he was too tired to shadow walk all the way back to the apartment he shared with his girlfriend.

 

He began to grow concerned, however, when he didn’t sense the presence of his girlfriend anywhere in the apartment. All of the lights were off, but that was no bother to him for obvious reasons. He didn’t turn any of the lights back on as he entered the house, setting his keys on the counter.

 

As he did so he noticed something else on the counter, something that deeply concerned him. It was a picture, the very same picture that Director Lykan had shown him in his office earlier that night. He creased his brow as he stared at the image before being alarmed at the sound of a stranger in his house.

 

How had he not sensed their presence before? The entire room was shrouded in shadows he could easily manipulate, it was like an extension of his own being, he would have quite literally have been able to _feel_ any intruders in the room.

 

Slowly, without giving away that he knew there was a stranger standing behind him, he opened the drawer under the counter in front of him, setting his keys inside, so that the stranger wouldn’t know he was reaching for the gun he kept in that very same drawer in case something like this were ever to happen.

 

Grabbing the pistol, he was relieved to find that it was loaded as he whipped around and aimed into the darkness.

 

“Buddy, you picked the wrong guy to rob”, Thomas growled, only to have the gun snatched out of his hand by a black tendril emanating from the darkness, followed by a dark chuckle, to which left Thomas quite dumbfounded, as he watched a figure step forwards into the faint light coming from the window beside them, revealing a man...no... _thing_ in a black top hat, sporting a monocle, and alarmingly charcoal grey skin.

 

Thomas creased his brow in confusion, which warranted a chuckle from the shadowy creature.

 

“Nocturne, right? I’ve been looking forward to this meeting for quite some time.” The man said, stepping forwards again, causing Thomas to take a step back.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Thomas says through gritted teeth, and the man scoffs. “Oh, please. You and I both know that’s a lie _Thomas Drake_.” Thomas’ eyes widen at the mention of his real name.

 

He grits his teeth again and growls. “Where’s Amy?” He asks with clear anger in his voice. “Ah, your _lover_ ,” The man says with clear disgust. “She’s experiencing some car troubles right now.” he grins an evil grin and Thomas growls, having had enough as he rushes the man, only to meet nothing. He looked around confused before turning around to see the man now standing in the hallway with an unamused look.

 

“Oh come now, Mr. Drake, is there really a need for violence?” The man taunts as Thomas tightens his fists. “What the hell did you do to my girlfriend?” Thomas demands and the other man sighs.

 

“Your _girlfriend_ is safe...for now. You, however, are a different story completely, **_Nocturne_ **.” He says his other designation with mirth in his voice.

 

Just as Thomas is about to rush the man again he suddenly can’t move, confused for a second as the pain suddenly catches up to the confusion and he realizes what’s happening, falling over, the pain excruciating, almost unbearable as he lets out a rippling scream of agony.

 

Black Hat sighs as the harsh noise makes it to his ears, eye closing as he holds his cane in both hands.

 

Oh, how he loved watching heroes fall.


	4. Strictly Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Black Hat finally has the object of his curiosity well in hand, and he couldn't be more pleased with the results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter to make up for Chapter 3

Nocturne was in a world of pain as ripples of electricity shattered his frame, reducing him to a writhing body on the floor.

 

The world seemed so far away from him, his own screams of pain a dull roar in the background themselves, barely able to even pick up the sounds of this stranger's voice. 

 

So he had no clue how he was still able to hear the sound of Amy’s voice, he wondered for a moment if he was going crazy, but no, he looked up to see his beautiful girlfriend standing in the doorway, a look of horror on her face at the sight.

 

“Amy….r-run…” He managed to choke out before a foreign darkness enveloped his vision, his body still twitching on the floor.

 

Black Hat frowns at the sudden intrusion and turns to look at the girl, whom he’d thought to have not been able to show up to her apartment for hours due to her “car troubles” he’d tasked Demencia with bringing about.

 

“Tommy? Are you okay in there? Sorry I’m late, some crazy bitch tried to jack my ca- OH MY GOD!” She shrieks as she turns the light on to see the scene before her, as her boyfriend tells her to run.

 

“You should probably listen to him.” Black Hat advises the terrified young woman before him, he’d have to have a talk with Demencia about her work ethic. However, he smiles to himself as she runs away, presumably in fear. He turns back around to the crumpled heap of a man in front of him.

 

Black Hat found himself looking over the features of the man once the device that had administered the electric shock had run out of juice. 

 

So  _ young.  _ Black Hat tilts his head, peering at the young man, he couldn’t have been older than twenty or so. Black Hat had fought younger heroes in the past but this was definitely a new record. Not that he really cared, he’d do anything to get what he wanted.

 

His train of thought was derailed as he felt something hard break apart upon contact with his back along with the shout of “Get the hell away from him!” coming from the woman behind him, who, had not in fact left after all, and instead had gone to get a weapon.

 

Black Hat sighed, why did she have to make this harder for him?

 

He stood to his full height standing towering over the 5’7” woman as she whimpered slightly. A smirk brushed across his features. She attempted to strike him, and he easily caught her wrist, squeezing it with nearly enough force to break it as she cried out in pain.

 

She certainly was brave, a shame he’d have to dispose of her like this. 

 

With a leisurely movement of his arm, he threw her into the wall behind him, her body hitting the ground without her making a noise as she lay there unmoving.  _ Whoops. _

 

Black Hat turned back around, picking up the man, who was surprisingly light, throwing him over his shoulder casually. He suddenly appeared outside next to Demencia, who was waiting next to a car, sporting a bloody nose.

 

“Boss! I tried to stop her but she freaking punched me in the face! She’s crazier than me!” Demencia says and Black Hat rolls his one eye making an annoyed noise.

 

“I noticed.” He opens the trunk of the car and unceremoniously dumped the man into the back.

“Ooou~ Is that our mystery man? He’s cute...not as cute as you though.” Demencia states and Black Hat grits his sharp teeth.

 

“Demencia, do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up.” He says, and Demencia shuts her mouth, realizing her boss wasn’t in the mood for her bullshit from the usage of expletives.

  
  


Nocturne awoke in a brightly lit room, contrary to other instances in which he’d been kidnapped where he had woken in a dark room, barely lit, which had been his kidnappers second mistake, the first having been kidnapping him at all in the first place.

 

He looked around, the room having no distinguishable features other than the fact that it was stark white and lit by fluorescent lights. He was tied to a chair, and in any other scenario he’d be able to easily shift through it, but there were no shadows in this room to manipulate. Whoever it was that was doing this to him knew him like the back of their hand, and it repulsed him.

 

He felt naked.

 

“Ah, you’re awake,  _ finally. _ ” The same voice that belonged to the man from the night before piped up from behind him, and he craned his neck to look at him, arousing a chuckle from the monster.

 

“So  _ eager.  _ Careful, you might hurt yourself.” The man walks around to the front of Nocturne, setting down a chair, sitting in it backwards, facing the boy.

 

“Where the hell am I- where’s Amy?!” Nocturne demands and Black Hat gives a tsk.

 

“I’m afraid I’m the one asking the questions here, Nocturne, or should I say  _ Thomas? _ ” Thomas grits his teeth and Black Hat chuckles.

 

“Don’t worry, your secret is more than safe with me. After all, I suspect we’ll be spending a lot more time together in the coming days, what would be the fun in breaking you so quickly?” Nocturne, seemingly unfazed by this comment starts to put the puzzle pieces together.

 

Ripjaw...he had been the only villain who knew his real identity. He suddenly looked up to this man, staring at the top hat sitting atop his head.

 

“You...you’re the one who killed Ripjaw.” Thomas breathes as Black Hat chuckles, clapping sarcastically.

 

“Congratulations, as if it wasn’t already blatantly obvious enough. Now, enough with the beating around the bush. I want answers.” Black Hat demands, to which Nocturne shakes his head.

 

“I’ve never met you in my life. What answers could you possibly hope to get out of me?” Nocturne spits with venom clear in his voice.

 

“Oh, but that’s where you’re so very wrong, dear Nocturne. You’re going to give me  _ everything  _ I want, and I’m not going to blow the Catastrophe Aversion and Projection Agency off the face of this planet.” He says, eyes filled with a convincing rage, Nocturne’s eyes cast down as Black Hat’s threat hits home.

 

“So you know about that too…” He sighs, Black Hat straightens his posture with sick pleasure at Nocturne’s defeat. “That and  _ so  _ much more, Mr. Drake, and I trust you’ll help fill me in on the rest?” Nocturne looks up at Black Hat, a confused look on his face.

 

“Nocturne, I want to find out just what makes you  _ tick _ ” the demon smirked as a single pointed claw pokes the boy’s chest.

 

“Starting with how in fact you received the ability to shadow walk.” Nocturne tilts his head, before realizing what he meant.

 

“I...It’s kind of complicated.” Nocturne mutters, and Black Hat crosses his arms. “Try me.” He says, raising an eyebrow. Nocturne sighs, and begins his explanation of the fateful night four years ago that changed his life forever.

 

**_Flashback_ **

 

A lone car drives along a dimly lit road in the middle of the night, full of rowdy teenagers, a blond haired boy with blue eyes behind the wheel.

 

_ I was young and stupid _

 

“Hey Tommy! Put something good on!” Another boy says from the back of the car, a bottle of beer sloshing in his hand, his other arm draped around a girl. The driver grins as he plugs the AUX cord of his older car into his phone, turning the volume dial up.

 

“Alright, but don’t get the liquid courage on my seats, James will freak if he finds out I had alcohol in here.” The blonde says.

 

“Tommy why you gotta be such a tight ass man, why don’t you have a drink like us!” The girl says, hiccupping and giggling in the back seat. Tommy rolls his eyes.

 

“Because I’m the designated driver, duh.” He sighs and the girl giggles some more. “Oh, right.”

 

_ It all happened so fast  _

 

Turning back around, the boy gasps at the sight of a truck merging over the median, swerving out of the way, losing control of the car as it broke through the guardrail of the bridge it was driving over and soars towards the dark depths of the river below.

 

_ I remember it being so dark and...cold _

 

The car plunges into the river, Thomas hitting his head on the steering wheel before the airbags can deploy, immediately knocked unconscious. 

 

_ But then… she saved me  _

 

A woman with silver hair and brilliant lavender eyes dives into the river, emerging on the gravel shore moments later, a body in her arms.

 

_ She was beautiful… like an angel _

 

The woman whispers something into the unconscious boys ear as he lay unmoving.

 

_ Even though I was unconscious...it was like she was still there with me, in the darkness  _

 

And then, after she is done seemingly speaking to a corpse, she lay her lips upon his gently, kissing him for a moment, and then she is gone. Disappeared in a cloud of black dust that engulfs the both of them, leaving behind only the young boy in the end.

 

_ And then she was gone, and I was alone in the darkness again _

 

He woke up moments later, coughing up water, seemingly a completely different person, his short blond locks having turned the darkest shade of black possible, and his eyes a noticeable deep lavender purple instead of the aqua blue they once were.

 

_ I never had the chance to thank her... _

 

**_End Flashback_ **

 

“I was the only survivor, guess she didn’t feel like saving any of my idiot friends.” Nocturne mutters pessimistically, the man in front of him giving him a look of...annoyance? What could possibly have bothered him about that sentence?

 

Black Hat stands and walks up to the boy, grabbing the boy’s chin gently, much to the other’s chagrin as he struggled, even though he wouldn’t get far with the restraints put in place on him. Black Hat moves closer to the man, staring into his eyes as if searching for a lie, Thomas in perfect view of the man’s imposing display of pointed dagger teeth as the man lets some of them show absentmindedly.

“You have her eyes…” Black Hat sighs as he steps back, around the chair he had been sitting in as he walked for the door.

 

“Thank you for your cooperation, Nocturne.” Black Hat simply says as he struts to the door.

 

“Wait,  _ what? _ ” He asks in disbelief.  _ ‘You have her eyes’,  _ what the actual  _ fuck  _ was that supposed to mean?

 

“Hey!” Nocturne shouts as Black Hat leaves the room, clearly aggravated at his lack of answers. “Who the hell even are you!?” Nocturne yells out desperately but is only met with silence. 

 

He sighs, this had to have been the strangest kidnapping scenario he’d ever been in.

 

**_Meanwhile_ **

 

Cornelius Lykan was a very busy man, but when one of your agents has been kidnapped by the world’s most sinister madman this side of Vlad the Impaler, it was time to drop everything and get your shit together. 

 

He had every agent at his disposal searching for both Nocturne and Black Hat nonstop for the last 24 hours, and they hadn’t found a single damn thing.

 

The Director sighed, he should have known this would happen. He never should have assigned Thomas to the bio-weapon case in the first place. He’d put him in the crosshairs of that monster the moment he left his office for Paris that night two weeks ago

 

Now he was walking to the medical ward of the CAPA headquarters, where Amy Todd had been placed under the care of their top doctor, Doctor Chakwa. 

 

Arriving at the room the girl had been placed in, it was a dire sight. Needles and IV sticking into the girl from all angles, she was barely hanging on, and it didn’t take a medical expert to see that.

 

Regardless, he still finds himself asking the doctor, “How is she?” Doctor Chakwa turns to him, looking at him as if she were perplexed that he even bothered asking, she sighs, setting her clipboard to the side.

 

“Cornelius….I’m not going to sugarcoat anything….It’s bad….” Lykan sighs hearing this as he looks at the floor, that’s what he was afraid of hearing. “How bad is it?” He asks, and she gives him another look of concern before walking over to the bedside to change the IV.

 

“We’ve managed to suppress most of the internal bleeding, but….” She sighs, “Even without the bleeding, she still experienced severe head trauma, and it doesn’t look like she’s going to be out of this coma anytime soon…” The Indian-American doctor explains as she stares into the Director’s stern face. 

 

“I’m not saying she won’t make it….but honestly, Cornelius...the chances are slim. Her family is going to have to start to think of the possibility of taking her off life support…” She rubs her hand across the Director’s back as he tightens his fists.

 

“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.” He growls as he stares at the tiled floor of the CAPA Medical Wing.

 

Dr Chakwa sighs, embracing her arms around the large man in front of her before taking his cheeks in her palms. 

 

“You do what you have to, Cornelius. I’ll still love you either way.” She says, planting a kiss on his lips as they continued to embrace each other…


	5. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nocturne's interrogation continues, and Black Hat persists to ask questions that make little to no sense to the vigilante. It's time for the hero to get some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter gets kind of heavy towards the end but I’m sure it's nothing any of my readers can’t handle. Enjoy :)

Nocturne awoke, shrouded in darkness, his eyes widening as his heart nearly leapt out of his throat in excitement. However, it slowly fades as he realizes that the darkness was synthetic, it wasn’t his own, for when he reached out to attempt to connect with the shadows he felt an overwhelming feeling of repulsion as he audibly gasped.

 

A chuckle oozed out from the walls behind him as a figure appeared in front of him, in the form of that detestable man. Nocturne growls, realizing he’d been tricked.

 

“Tell me  _ Nocturne… _ ” Black Hat starts, “do you fear the dark?” the demon asks, seeming to be genuinely curious, as he rests his hands on either arm of the chair Nocturne was strapped to, staring into Nocturne’s purple orbs expectantly.

 

Nocturne, reeling backwards in obvious disgust from the closeness, answers his question to get him to back off. “I used to…” He answers honestly, the grin on Black Hat’s face spreading slightly, lidding his one eye.

 

“Not so much anymore though, given the  _ state  _ of things.” He growls at Black Hat with a piercing glare. 

 

“Hmm, perhaps we can change that…” Black Hat hums, and Nocturne rolls his eyes in response. Noticing this, he grabs Nocturne by the chin suddenly and stares into his eyes, searching for any signs of fear. If the boy was afraid, he was hiding it well…

 

“I’m not afraid of you.” He spits at Black Hat as his gloved hand slowly traces down the young man’s jawline, making its way to his neck, starting to squeeze softly and then tighter, tighter, tighter, until his neck is in a vice like grip.

 

Nocturne grits his teeth in discomfort and anger as he stares back at Black Hat, ever defiant. 

 

He would be a welcome change of pace from that sniveling doctor and Demencia’s constant affection.

 

“Is that so?” Black Hat challenges with an almost heavenly soft tone of voice, contradicting the iron grip he had around the boy’s throat right now. He bore such a striking resemblance to her... 

 

He finally let go, Nocturne coughing roughly to his side, said man hating that this monster had laid his dirty claws on him in such a way. Everything about the man screamed at him to get as far away as possible, even on a subconscious level.

 

And his  _ eyes-  _ was that  _ desire _ he detected in the man’s onyx orbs?!

 

He needed to find a way out of here as fast as possible, get back to Director Lykan and the rest of CAPA, and  _ Amy.  _ Christ, he’d nearly forgotten about her. If this man’s words were to be trusted, which they most definitely  _ weren’t,  _ but he’d give him the benefit of the doubt anyways, she was probably at home right now worried sick after literally watching her boyfriend get  _ electrocuted  _ on their kitchen floor and then dragged off by some maniac.

 

“Speechless?” He’s brought back by Black Hat’s chuckling. “You were all spice and fire a moment ago...” the man seemed to be enjoying this way too much.

 

“However, I am not simply here for pleasantries, sadly. I’ve come for more information.” He asserts, a chair appearing from thin air behind him as he sits down, crossing a leg over the other.

 

“Why not just ask me all of these incessant questions at once? You seem to have a distinct knack for drawing things out longer than they need to be.” Nocturne laments as Black Hat simply smiles.

 

“What would be the point? You’re not leaving here anytime soon, and I spent a lot of money and resources to get you right here where I want you. I’m savoring every bit of it.” He keeps that leveled smile as he stares at Nocturne waiting expectantly for an amusing reaction, but Nocturne simply sighs once more.

 

“Glad to know I’ll be worth the trouble.” He says sarcastically. “Let’s get this over with, what do you want to know?” 

 

Down to business, Black Hat supposed he could admire that in a person. No longer smiling, he lifted his chin as if attempting to get a better view of Nocturne.

 

“Tell me more about the woman that pulled you from the river.” He says after a moment and Nocturne bites his lip, obviously he didn’t talk much about the car crash or how he gained his abilities. Never got the proper closure he needed to help those wounds heal over, Black Hat supposed.

 

“I already told you I don’t remember much,” He shrugs, “The whole thing was like a dream...I-I don’t even think I was conscious for much of it.” He says, pausing a moment as if trying to remember the events of that night more clearly.

 

“She...She told me something…” He said quietly, almost a whisper, Black Hat waiting patiently though mentally he was at the edge of his seat.

 

“A name…. _ her name”  _ Thomas breathes as he stares at Black Hat, who nods, imploring him to go on.

 

“It remember it being so clear when she said it but now...It’s like...it’s like waking up from a dream you can’t remember.” He says, obviously having struggled to remember this piece of information.

 

“Is that all?” Black Hat questions, and Nocturne shakes his head.

 

“No, she told me something else. She said something about me being pure...and that I wasn’t supposed to die that night, my time hadn’t come yet. It was like she was staring into my soul and reading it to me.” Nocturne shuddered slightly and Black Hat rapped his claws at the armrest of the chair he was in once, deep in thought.

 

“But the kiss….that was how I knew it wasn’t a dream once I woke up. I-It felt so... _ real.  _ Like nothing else could have compared to that. It was almost as if she was literally  _ breathing  _ life into me, and I think in some ways….she did.” Nocturne’s gaze seemed far off momentarily before he snapped out of it and realized where he was again, the scowl returning to his face.

 

“What do you care? I don’t see how this will benefit you in anyway, unless you’re one of those ‘number one fan’ types who take their passion to the utmost extreme. In which case, I’m not what you think I am.” the boy laments, the words causing Black Hat to raise an eyebrow.

 

“What ever do you mean by that?” Black Hat asks, confused.

 

Nocturne sighs, leaning his head back slightly as if he were explaining this for the thousandth time. “I’m not a hero.” He says simply, before Black Hat could fully process his words, the boy continues. 

“I never asked for these powers. Or the unwarranted fame that came with them. People want ‘heroes’ because they know their own lives carry little to no meaning, and they need an escape. So yeah, I may rescue a cat out of a tree because I’m  _ there,  _ after all, no one wants to sit around and  _ let  _ people get hurt, but that doesn’t make me a hero. At the end of the day, I’m still just that scared, idiot kid who got his friends killed, who some higher power pitied enough to keep him from following his friends.” Thomas said in a level tone, laced with regret and guilt.

 

Black Hat tilts his head slightly, beginning to understand. “But you’ve saved more than enough lives in the past...what changed?” He asks, eyes locked on the somber, slack expression on the boy’s face. 

 

“I woke up.” Thomas says, “Maybe when I was a young and inexperienced 16 year old idiot I figured I could make a change. After all, the amount of heroes left now are far and gone from how many there were twenty years ago. But in the end that was one of the reasons I had a change of heart. No matter how many heroes there are, there will  _ always  _ be ‘villains’. Because in the end, the only evil in this world is human ambition, and that’s something we’ll never run out of. What’s the point of going out of your way to stop a few random crimes a week when people are being slaughtered in droves all around the world because someone’s religion is different from someone else, or because someone is in a same-sex relationship, or hell I don’t know, because the  _ goddamned sky is blue _ ?” Thomas spits.

 

Black Hat could tell that this was something the youth had had time to think about, and he supposed he had a point, after all, where were heroes throughout the ages to stop disease and strife, and  _ war?  _ For every hero, it always did seem like there were ten more villains plotting against them. That was most likely why Black Hat’s business endeavours were always so lucrative.

 

“You’re awfully pessimistic for someone so….young.” the demon says, one leg crossed over the other as he gazed at the boy.

 

“No. Not a pessimist. Just a realist.” Thomas says in a sigh as he licks his bottom lip, realizing suddenly how thirsty he was.

 

Black Hat chuckles at the boy's words. He was definitely wise beyond his years, despite his somewhat childish defiance.

 

_ Perhaps he can be swayed yet… _

 

He stared at the spiked jet black locks sprouting from the top of the boy’s head, some stray strands having fallen out of place. For someone who’d been recently kidnapped he looked fairly decent, all things considered.

 

He was so different from her...yet...so much like her at the same time. His defiance and ever present resilience echoing inside of him….even in death. 

 

_ Anastasia _

 

His one eye widens. How long had it been since he had spoken that name? How long since he had even  _ heard  _ it? His brief moment of reminisce was interrupted by the sound of Thomas clearing his throat, muscles in his throat constricting as he swallows dry air afterwards.

 

“You uh...wouldn’t happen to have any  _ water  _ would you?” He asks, hiding his small amount of embarrassment well. A small smile finds its way onto Black Hat’s face as he stands, a glass of ice cold water appearing in his hand, stepping forwards, making a move towards the boy’s face.

 

Nocturne, to Black Hat’s mild disappointment, of course moves away at this move with a look of annoyance.

 

“I’m not a  _ dog. _ ” He says, somewhat offended. Black Hat simply chuckles, “Worth a try.” He snaps his fingers and suddenly the binds strapping Nocturne’s hands to the chair were gone. Nocturne rubs his wrists cautiously, as if expecting some sort of trap. However, his dry throat betrays him as he eyes the cold glass of water, dripping with condensation.

 

He grabs the glass and chugs the entire thing, Black Hat watching in an almost sick amusement, mouth hanging open slightly to display razor sharp fangs as he watches the boy’s throat pulsate and constrict as the water is consumed.

 

When he is finished, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, before handing the glass back to Black Hat, who looked almost expectant, like he was waiting for something to happen.

 

“You must have a lot of confidence in the belief that I won’t try to escape by untying me like this.” He says, breaking the awkward silence.

 

“You looked uncomfortable.” Black Hat simply states, eyes locked on Nocturne’s own purple eyes.

 

“Hmm, yeah, being stuck in a chair for hours on end will do that to you.” He says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Black Hat looks around the room at hearing this, as if just now realizing the state that the boy was in. 

 

“Yes...I suppose it is a bit...tasteless. Is there anything else you need?” He asks, sounding genuine, which was a bit off putting to Nocturne.

 

“...A bed would be nice. This chair definitely isn’t going on my ‘Top 10 Places to Sleep’ list.” A small smirk creases the thin line of Black Hat’s lips hearing this.

“I suppose some...arrangements can be made…” He says, arms behind his back, standing to his full height as he turns around. 

 

“Y’know...you still haven’t told me your name.” Thomas says and Black Hat freezes as if having made a grave mistake. Clearly he wouldn’t be able to continue to walk away from that question, well, he  _ could,  _ but no doubt the youth would continue to pester him over it. He turns to him, quiet for a moment before speaking.

 

“Call me….Christian.” Black Hat says in a half sigh. Thomas tilted his head...he was half expecting some lame villain alter ego of a name. It was a...pleasant surprise.

 

“Alright...Christian. I have one more question for you.” Black Hat raises his eyebrow as he looks at the man over his shoulder, already at the door.

 

“What did you mean when you said ‘I have her eyes?’ the last time we talked?” At hearing this, Nocturne caught a small smile break across Christian’s lips, he looked almost... _ sad _ …

 

“I’ll make a deal with you Thomas, for every one of our little ‘chats’ we have I’ll let you ask a question of your own, how does that sound?” Black Hat says, albeit a bit patronizing, but at least he had the respect to use his actual name. 

 

Thomas was disappointed but he supposed it was better than nothing, and he nods to the man, who promptly leaves, seemingly satisfied with his little “deal”. As soon as he was gone the ties reappeared around his wrists, binding him to the chair, and he sighs.

 

“One more night.” He says to himself in a whisper as he leans his head back and tries to get some sleep in the brightly lit room, no easy task for obvious reasons. 

  
  


**Catastrophe Aversion and Protection Agency HQ**

**  
** **Medical Bay**

 

**St Louis, MO**

 

Amy Todd’s friends and family all gathered around her. Her mother, father, two older sisters and younger only brother. The rest of her living relatives occupying the room as well, including a few of her closest friends. Everyone important in her life was there, except for the most important person in her life.

 

They all stood there, wet cheeks and craned necks as they mourned in advance for what they knew was to come. Doctor Chakwa placed her hand on the shoulder of Amy’s father.

 

“It’s time.” The sound of Amy’s mother weeping is the only sound that follows as her husband hugs her tightly.

 

Doctor Chakwa walks over to the life support monitor, and unplugs the machine powering it, stepping back.

 

“It should be another few minutes.” She says, a sad expression on her face. “I’ll let you guys be now.” She says, and walks out of the room.

 

And for those next excruciatingly long few minutes, Amy Todd made her departure from this Earth.

  
  
  


Cornelius Lykan didn’t consider himself an alcoholic, but some nights you just needed few drinks. Right now was one of those nights.

 

One of his best agents was missing, and the love of that said agents life had just died 50 years too young, and it was all his fault. Because he had caved to the pressure imposed on him by his higher ups, he’d sent Thomas Drake on a mission that he wasn’t prepared for, and ended up catching the attention of the most heinous man on the planet.

 

This was all his doing. The Director tightened his fists in anger, turning around and throwing the bottle at the wall nearest him, in a fit of rage. He never had been that good at controlling his anger. 

 

Hit brief episode was interrupted by the sound of the door to his office opening quickly, as one of his younger agents ran in with a look of excitement in his eyes.

 

“Sir! We think we might have found a lead on Agent Nocturne’s position!” He said, and Lykan perks up hearing this, staring at the agent in a look of disbelief for a moment.

  
  


“Well what the hell are you standing around for? Get everyone in the briefing room now!” Lykan yells, not completely sober yet, but still having an air of hopefulness around him as the agent nodded and ran out of the room quickly, Lykan following soon after.


	6. Dead Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas agrees to a method suggested by Black Hat that may give him, and Black Hat for that matter, some form of closure as to the events that happened the night of his 'death' four years earlier. However, it goes awry, just as Cornelius Lykan shows up with the rest of CAPA in an elaborate rescue attempt. The results of the night seem dire for both Thomas and Black Hat...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus I haven’t even started writing this chapter yet and I can tell you it’s gonna get crazy. I might change the rating to Explicit after this depending how both this and the next chapter end up turning out. These chapters will most likely be considerably longer from now on now that I’ve uploaded the first five chapters and I’m not writing them all back to back anymore. Oh yeah also there’s some light intimacy in this chapter but no full on sex or anything so I’m not gonna slap the NSFW tag on for now.

Director Lykan was staring at a satellite map of a warehouse in an abandoned Detroit neighborhood, the enhanced and zoomed in image showing a lone truck parked in the lot

 

“Gibbons, explain to the rest what we’re looking at.” He asks of the man, having already been briefed himself earlier. The agent, Gibbons, turns to the rest of the briefing room, it being filled with CAPA’s top agents, from the bottom of the ranks to the top.

 

“72 hours ago this image was taken outside of Detroit city limits. After our intel team tracked every singular shipment of batteries in the continental United States of the last week that would provide at least 10 kilowatts of energy altogether, we had this van tracked to a seemingly abandoned warehouse in Detroit. Now, this was our first sign that something wasn’t right, that is, until _this_ image was taken,” The man types something on his tablet and then the image changes to a street view of the warehouse, seeming innocent enough at first, until he began to zoom in.

 

“Local surveillance caught this image on the same day, three hours later.” The enhanced image showing a man in a lab coat with a paper bag obscuring his face. A few gasps and curses were drawn out from the crowd at recognition of the man.

 

“Some of you may have heard of Dr. Henry Flug, a known associate of Black Hat, the one in possession of our asset.” Caught red handed.

 

“I believe...this is all the proof we need.” Gibbons turns to his Director as if expecting him to say something, but when he doesn’t, he continues.

  
“Surveillance has been monitoring the warehouse ever since these images were taken, there has been steady traffic to and from the building since then, so there’s a good chance Agent Drake is still alive. However, that may not hold true for much longer, so we’ll need to act as quickly as possible.” Gibbons glances over to Director Lykan, and Lykan takes that as his cue to finally enter.

 

“We launch our operation at 1900 hours...Let’s get our agent back.” This was followed by an eruption of cheers from the crowd of agents as they were all soon dismissed to prepare for their rescue mission…

 

Black Hat was in a good mood. He’d just completed another successful deal with a big client, the improvements to his “guest’s” living conditions had just been finished in half the time he’d expected them to, and the good Dr. Flug had managed to finish three new prototypes the would be ready to go into production within the week whilst also juggling having to watch Nocturne and make sure his cell lighting was powered adequately.

 

He arrived at the room Nocturne was being held in, and even took to the polite liberty of knocking before entering, Nocturne turning around after having been laying down in the corner with his arms behind his head, for Black Hat had removed him from the chair he’d been strapped to before, as a simple courtesy.

 

“Aw, man. I was expecting the Girl Scouts.” The young man jests, and Black Hat raises his head in amusement. “I have something better than cookies.” He says as he walks towards Thomas and holds his hand out, the boy raising his eyebrow, taking the hand anyways.

  
“Do tell?” He says, more in a questioning manner as Black Hat doesn’t let go of his hand, smirking lightly. “You’ll see.”

 

Suddenly Thomas is wrapped in a cocoon of darkness, and before he can realize what is happening he’s standing in a room lit with purple light, standing right where he had been before in front of Black Hat. He doesn’t find himself dizzy or anything like that, for he had shadow walked hundreds if not thousands of times like it was nothing, but he still blinked a few times, for he had obviously not expected it.

 

“Guess I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that now.” He shakes his head slightly as if trying to shake out the nonexistent cobwebs. He finds himself looking around the purple room now, curious.

 

“Where are we?” He asks.

 

“Your new suite.” Black Hat says motioning to the unceremonious room around him. It wasn’t much different from the other room, other than the bed and the inexplicable purple light. But he supposed it was the best he was going to get. Wait a minute, _bed_? He suddenly gasped as he realized he had completely gd over the fact that there was a bed in the corner of the room.

 

He threw himself onto the surprisingly soft mattress with a groan, stretching out onto the bed, seemingly not caring about the man watching him from feet away.

 

“ _Bed._ ” He simply says as he closes his eyes in satisfaction, to which the other raises an eyebrow.

 

“You seem awfully excited over something as simple as a bed.” Black Hat muses as he watches the young man stretch out on the small cot.

 

“Dude, my sleeping options have been limited to a chair and the floor for the last...however long it's been since you brought me here. I’m not about to pass up an opportunity to get freaky with a mattress.” Thomas says, and Black Hat rolls his one eye.

 

Thomas Drake was certainly a man without filter. Had any other “guest” of his done 90% of the things Thomas had done since he arrived here, Black Hat would have most likely personally gutted them on the spot, but something had held him back from going so far with Thomas.

 

Perhaps it was his age, after all, he was so _young_ and spoke as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, seemingly more stressed about his job as a “hero” than Black Hat could have ever been with his on a _bad day_. Or maybe it was because he reminded him so much of Anastasia...he had that same quirk that she always had...he could never get mad at that face.

 

And the _eyes._ It was almost as if he were the same damn person, albeit with a few...notable changes.

 

He’d been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed Thomas staring up at him, he glanced down at the relaxed boy.

 

“You gonna continue admiring the view or are you gonna pull up and take a knee, shrink?” Thomas asked to Black Hat’s confusion.

 

He conjured a chair from beneath him, sitting down next to Thomas. “Shrink?” He asks.

 

“Yeah...heh... you kind of remind me of a therapist or something. I don’t know, maybe it’s all the questions about my past and whatnot. I’ve never really talked to anyone about... _it_ before.” He explains, shrugging lightly.

 

Black Hat hums, so his suspicions were true, the boy had repressed all of his memories instead of ever admitting them to anyone. Understandable, but certainly less than healthy. Being the demonic creature he was, Black Hat never really had to care much for his own mental health, able to swindle and kill people left and right without so much as a hiccup, but he supposed that was just a part of who he was, or more _what_ he was.

 

From where Thomas was lying on the bed he could see the source of all the bright purple light clearly now. “Ultraviolets….” He mumbles to himself, “How did you know?” He turns to look at Black Hat, who smirks. “Little birdie.” He simply says and Thomas shrugs.

 

“So, what overly personal questions do you have for me today?” He says, closing his eyes again.

 

“Well, I figured I’d let you start with your one question.” Black Hat says and Thomas opens one eye, looking at him carefully, before smiling lightly.

“Anastasia….Her name was Anastasia, wasn’t it?” Thomas simply says, and Black Hats jaw comes slightly unhinged. He was silent for a moment before sighing. “Yes...But that wasn’t the name she told you.” Black Hat says, and Thomas creases his brow, sitting up on the bed.

 

“What do you mean? She told it to me clear as day. I...I remember that part over everything else!” Thomas pleads, still clearly confused as to the events that happened that night. He was silent for another moment, purple irises locked onto the onyx right eye of Black Hat, as if searching for something, anything.

 

“You….you knew her...didn’t you?” Thomas says, as if more pieces of the proverbial puzzle had just fallen into place, and in a way they certainly had.

 

Black Hat stares into the young man’s lost eyes and nods silently. “I knew Anastasia well... too well. She taught me very many things, and I still hold her in the highest regards today...which is more than could be said for her.” He trails off, seeming distant.

 

“But...but you could help me! I’ve spent so long trying to decipher the message that she gave me, it’s been slowly driving me insane! I need to know why she saved me that night, why she chose me over anyone else!” Thomas pleads once more with Black Hat, on the edge of the bed now, practically about to fall off.

 

“I’m afraid...It’s not that simple Thomas. But I will tell you one thing, if Anastasia chose you over anyone else in the car that night...she saw something in you that you couldn’t. I knew her well enough to know she didn’t just make sporadic decisions on the go.” Black Hat explains, attempting to ease the pain of old wounds, to no avail.

 

Thomas looks at the ground, clearly this wasn’t enough for him. “...That tells me _nothing”_ he seethes, a air of defeat around him.

 

Black Hat sighed, he hadn’t wanted it to come to this, but he just couldn’t bear to see those eyes deprived of the same hope she had once.

 

“There is….another way, but you need to be absolutely sure about it first.” He reveals, and Thomas perks up, the hope returning to his brilliant purple eyes, willing to do anything for his own closure.

 

“By now you are most likely aware that I’m….far from human,” Black Hat says, as Thomas diligently listens, lips parted slightly. “And thus...I can do things normal humans cannot.” Thomas nods, clearly eager.

 

Black Hat sighs, shutting his one eye for a moment. He sincerely hoped this wouldn’t be something he would regret.

 

“Anastasia was of my kind. That’s why you have the same abilities as myself. When one of my kind sacrifices their life force to save a human, that human gains all of their abilities….and memories.” Black Hat explains, Thomas trying his best to understand.

 

“My kind...we communicate in a different way from you humans. A sort of telepathic link between us, that can be conveyed through the nerve endings via touch. And now that you harbor Anastasia’s life force...you can communicate just as she could.” He goes on, Thomas tilting his head slightly.

 

“So? I don’t see how this helps me…” He says, skeptical. Black Hat shakes his head at the boy's impatience.

 

“Through this form of communication, I can potentially unlock your memories of that night, but I’m out of practice, as there hasn’t been another of my kind since Anastasia to practice with.” Thomas shakes his head, not caring.

  
“Why didn’t you just tell me all this before?” He asks, and Black Hat sighs. “It could have...adverse effects on the way you perceive time. As near immortal beings, this wouldn’t matter much to us but humans...they have a different structure from our own. You’re much more...fragile.” He explains and Thomas shakes his head.

 

“I don’t care, Christian. I want this. I **_need_ ** this.” He says, sounding way to sure of himself. He positions himself at the edge of the bed, staring needily at Black Hat. He sounded just like her.

 

“Do it.” He demands, and Black Hat, biting his lower lip, nods silently.

 

He brings up a single hand to the boy’s face, brushing a strand of hair out of the way gently before bring his other hand up, to cup the sides of his face. He stared at Black Hat expectantly, and suddenly he wasn’t the headstrong, nineteen year old hero that people knew and loved, he was a scared sixteen year old boy that was drowning in a river.

 

Black Hat plunges his lips against the boy to seal the deal, and before Thomas could even register what was happening, a pulsating wave washes over him. Purple eyes glowed like fire as dull whispers at the edge of his conscience became clear words. Everything became so much more visceral, and…

 

_Real._

 

The conversation came back to him, soothing words cooing at the young boy, bringing him back from the depths, both figuratively and literally.

 

_Sweet child, this world doesn’t deserve you._

 

Thomas’ eyes widened, the fire in his eyes seeming to glow even brighter, as Black Hat’s own lidded eyes turned from a dark inky onyx to a bloody, pulsing red.

 

She was an angel.

 

_And he is a demon._

 

Relieved eyes suddenly widened further in an expression of shock and disbelief, and _hurt_. Lips parted in their shock and Black Hat merely smirked in mild satisfaction as he took his chance, slipping his long, foreign object of a tongue inside the boy’s mouth. Tears began to roll down the young man’s cheeks, gripping the sheets of the bed beside him.

 

Black Hat gently lays him down onto the bed, eyes still closed as if he were having a premonition of his own, one that he didn’t want to ever end. His claws gently slipping down from the boy’s face and sliding under his shirt, leaving light claw marks on his skin. He moves from his mouth down his neck, tongue slick with saliva trailing across the skin as he settles as the crook of his shoulder, teeth biting down gently.

 

“ _No…”_ Thomas croaks in a small voice, Black Hat deaf to his protests.

 

“Anastasia…” He whispers into the boy’s ear, “It’s been so _long_ …” He smiles pleasantly, eyes still closed, whereas Thomas’ were wide open, still producing tears as he brought a hand to his mouth, stifling a small noise of pain.

 

“ _You’re a monster._ ” Thomas says in an echoey voice, those three words slowly bringing Black Hat down from his high, as those same words he’d heard so long ago were now being produced by her lips again. No...not hers…. _his._

 

Black Hat’s eye widens upon realization. “ _What?_ ” He asks, in disbelief at the wreck of a boy beneath him as if he hadn’t just been soiling him seconds earlier.

 

The boy stares at Black Hat, coming out of his own haze with a choked noise of anguish.

 

“What did you _do_?” Thomas asks, in a horrified down as his reddened eyes locked with Black Hat’s, the red tint in his irises slowly subsiding.

 

_What had he done?_ Black Hat found himself internally questioning himself.

 

Oh...Oh _no._

 

_This was a mistake…_

 

Before any other words can be spoken an explosion rocks the building they were in, and Black Hat gets off of the bed in a hurry, Thomas unmoving as if nothing else mattered, clearly in a state of shock.

 

“Stay here.” Black Hat orders, giving the boy one last guilty look before shadow walking out the door, the one exit of the room. Thomas laid there for another few moments staring at the door where Black Hat had left through before realizing that the one-way deadbolt lock to the door had been completely blown off.

 

Thomas tried to stand but his legs almost immediately gave out and he fell onto the floor with a groan of pain, crawling to the door instead.

 

“ _Amy…_ ” He mumbles to himself as he gets to the door, reaching for the knob, it seeming like a hundred miles away until he finally managed to get a hold on the knob and swing the door open, smiling to himself as he was suddenly engulfed in darkness, all of the lights in the hallway having been blown out.

 

His powers came back to him in a soothing caress, a moderate comfort in the wake of the devastating memories which had just made their way back to him so suddenly.

 

And just like that, Thomas Drake disappeared.

  


Doctor Chakwa sat in the Medical Bay, preparing the beds for what she expected to harbor numerous agents after tonight, knowing in the back of her mind some of them wouldn’t make it. She hadn’t been spending much time in the Medical Bay lately, as it had started to become too depressing for her after the loss of Amy Todd.

 

Rather she spent more time in her office, filling out paperwork or reading over old reports of successful operations. That tended to boost her ego enough to keep her in a good mood. But tonight she had to make an exception, she _did_ have a job to do after all.

 

She stared at the bed Amy had once occupied, some flowers still sitting there beside the bed, starting to wilt. She sighs, picking up the flowers and admiring the bittersweet beauty of them before they began to lose their color and die fully.

 

Turning to place the flowers on the counter so she could ready that bed for any incoming patients, she stops dead in her tracks when she suddenly hears the sound of a very familiar voice.

 

“Where’s Amy?…” the young voice from behind her says as she turns around to see Thomas Drake hunched against a bed.

 

The vase of flowers drops to the floor.

  


Black Hat couldn’t believe he had given into the temptation.

 

He should have never even considered linking his mind with the boy’s. The horror in his eyes...he’d never be able to forget that face. The hurt in his eyes was indistinguishable from Anastasia’s. Hell, for all he knew, Thomas _was_ Anastasia for those few moments.

 

Something wet splashed against his face, he didn’t pay attention to it as he stepped over another body.

 

The convincing hallucination had revived something in him that had been dormant for quite some time. The capacity for something greater. It almost sickened him just thinking about it. He should have known that he wouldn’t have been able to stabilize the link before he saw _her_ again. After all, it had been centuries since he’d even considered using the telepathic link.

 

“Black Hat!” A voice from behind him plucks him harshly from his train of thought.

 

Black Hat turns around, dropping the body he’d been carrying in his tentacled grip unceremoniously. He sees another agent in the middle of the hallway, covered in cuts and bruises. Black Hat squints at the man, he could have sworn he’d killed everyone by now.

 

“Where is Thomas Drake? Where is Nocturne?!” The African-American man growls at Black Hat, as if he were in any position to make demands.

 

“Do I _know_ you?” Black Hat scoffs, sounding annoyed, not waiting for an answer as he shoots a tentacle straight at the man’s face, ready to fully decapitate him and end the conversation as he began to turn around, not even sticking around to watch. But he couldn’t.

 

Black Hat creases his brow as he stares at his feet in confusion and then turns around to see the man holding the tentacle in a vice like grip. The man’s eyes were glowing a sickly yellow, and soon the veins in his neck were glowing too, even further down now, into his bare arms.

 

The man lets out an animalistic growl, as he takes off the bulletproof vest he had strapped to his chest. He closes his eyes as grey fur starts to sprout from his arms and around his face, until there was no skin left to show. His jaw started protruding from his skull until it resembled more of a maw shape. He opens his eyes, arcs of yellow electricity jumping out from his pupils as he glares at Black Hat.

 

Black Hat frowns, opening his mouth to say something smart, but before any words can come out, the wolf-like creature yanks at the tentacle in his grip like a chain, and Black Hat comes flying forwards like a ragdoll.

 

Managing to right himself in the air, he meets the creature with an equal amount of strength as he grips either of his hands, feet digging into the floor as tiles are scraped out of place from the mere force of the contact.

 

“ _Man-Wolf_ I presume,” Black Hat recalled hearing something about this hero a few decades back. “Can you hear me in there Mr. Lykan?” Black Hat taunts with a grin of amusement. “Me and Thomas have had such fun together, it was a shame you weren’t there to see any of it. Although I guess you shouldn’t expect much from a defunct government that still believes in its dead heroes.” Man-Wolf roars hearing the mention of his young agent’s name.

 

“ **WHERE IS HE?!** ” He bellows in a deep echoey snarl, managing to throw Black Hat into thewall nearest the two of them. Black Hat groans lightly, starting to become annoyed.

 

“Nowhere you won’t be able to reach without going through me.” He says in a cool tone, shadow walking out of the way as the hybrid leaps at him, running into the wall instead. Black Hat takes his chance and wraps tentacles around the beast’s legs and slams him into the ceiling, and then to the ground again before throwing him down the hallway further.

 

He appears in front of the beast before he can stand again and pins him to the ground, tentacles wrapping around his arms and legs as he takes a single hand and wraps it around the wolf man’s throat.

 

“Normally I’d be more than happy to wipe the floor with insolent heroes, but you really have me at a bad time, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut our little chat short.” Black Hat says, ready to crush the man’s windpipe in a single blow, as he had almost fully reverted back to his human form now, if it weren’t for a few short words that caught him off guard.

 

“She was just a girl…” Cornelius Lykan croaks, glaring daggers at the man, dark shadows under his eyes hinting at an alcohol problem.

“What the hell are you talking about, _swine_?” Black Hat spits, hand still on his throat.

 

“Amy Todd! His girlfriend! You don’t even remember _killing_ her do you?” The CAPA Director seethes with venom dripping in his tone, Black Hat’s one eye widening slightly. He...he had _killed her?_ No… that couldn’t have been, he hadn’t thrown her _that_ hard had he? Just enough to get her out of the way…

 

_History repeats itself it seems…_

 

“What- don’t tell me you’re actually _sorry,_ you sick son of a-” Black Hat shadow walks away before the man beneath him can finish his sentence. He needed to get to Thomas, he needed to take him away from this place before one of those agents could take them away from him, before they could tell him the truth.

 

_The truth…_

 

Black Hat’s heart dropped in its hollow cave when he saw the door to the boy’s room cracked open halfway. He quickly ran inside to find…

 

Nothing.

 

The sheets were still hanging off the bed where Thomas had clearly made his way off. Black Hat dropped to his knees, taking the sheets in his claws as if it were the last thing he had left of the boy.

 

And then he too vanished into the abyss.

  


Doctor Chakwa stares in horror at the scene in front of her, the words “Where’s Amy?” bouncing around inside her head like a bullet in a steel room. She rushes forwards, medical instincts taking over as she kept the young man from nearly falling over onto the floor of the Medical Bay.

 

“Agent Drake!” She sits him onto a bed, and lays him down. He looked terrible, and she didn’t need to take his temperature to know he had a fever. She took an already prepared ice pack and put it on his forehead, his glossy eyes staring into her own. His eyes, normally that beautifully vibrant shade of purple now seemed to be struggling to even produce a mere fraction of their former glory.

 

Staring at Thomas, she couldn’t help but think about her partner, Cornelius. He’d gone in there to look for Thomas, and Thomas had returned without him. She thought of asking the boy, but he was clearly in no condition to be answering questions.

 

“Do you hate me?” Doctor Chakwa frowns in concern hearing this as she grabs the boy’s hand, crouching down to be more level with him.

 

“Thomas...why would you ever say that? You’re like family to me. To all of us...that’s why we’ve stopped at nothing to try and find you.” She explains, trying to soothe the boy.

 

“He’ll kill them...” Thomas says in a small voice, Doctor Chakwa growing quiet, not knowing how to respond to this very true statement.

 

“He didn’t kill you.” She says, his glossy eyes glaze across to lie upon her. “Because he didn’t want to...I understand that now.” Doctor Chakwa tilts her head slightly, not understanding.

 

“W-What do you mean?...” She says, growing slightly uneasy with the subject. Thomas stares at her, hesitant, as if the words themselves will shatter him.

 

“He wanted _me…_ ” The boy says, pain in his eyes as Doctor Chakwa gasps.

 

“Thomas...I’m so sorry.” Doctor Chakwa couldn’t hold back the tears that had been threatening to burst from her tear ducts since the boy had entered her medical bay. Everytime she looked at his face she couldn’t help but think of Amy.

 

She had died for _this_ ? For some sort of, sick, cruel fascination over a _boy_? She couldn’t help but choke up slightly, holding her hand to her face as if trying to hide the fact.

 

“No. I’m sorry.” Thomas looks at the doctor with sad eyes.

 

“Director Lykan was there wasn’t he? To rescue me...I should have stayed...I could have convinced Chris-....I could have convinced _Black Hat_ to spare him.” Doctor Chakwa shakes her head hearing this.

 

“No! No, don’t you even begin to apologize, Agent Drake!” She yells, she didn’t know if she was mad at Lykan, or Black Hat, or hell, _herself_ for not being able to do anything about the current situation. Without warning she suddenly leans forwards and hugs her patient. She didn’t care if it was unprofessional, it didn’t matter. Like she had said, they were family, and family stuck together.

 

“You’re our youngest, our best, and you might lack foresight at times, but you always get the job done- a-and you may always deny it but you’re a god damned hero to everyone in this building, to everyone in this city!” She sobs over him, and Thomas humors her with a small smile.

 

“Thank you, Doctor Chakwa.” He says, before closing his eyes and falling asleep almost immediately.

 

**10 hours later**

 

Thomas was brought out of his deep slumber by the sound of a tense conversation on the other side of the room.

 

“Fine then, how many besides you?” The sound of Doctor Chakwa’s voice made its way to his ears as he grew more conscious of where he was. He suddenly remembered everything that had happened, and a rush of memories were brought to the surface.

 

He felt like he was going to throw up.

 

“Five.” The sound of the familiar Director Lykan’s voice greets him. “ _Five?_ Good god Cornelius, you could have _died_! Nearly forty men left and only six came back?!” Doctor Chakwa frantically yells.

 

“Shh, Anaya, you’ll wake him!” Lykan says in a hushed whisper.

 

“Don’t bother,” Thomas says in a groan as his two older colleagues turned to him, “I’m already up.”

 

Doctor Chakwa makes it across the room in the blink of the eye as she starts tending to Thomas. “Are you okay?” She asks, checking to make sure his IV was clean. “Do you need any water?” She asks, checking his forehead temperature.

 

“No,” He replies, sounding determined, as he looks over to the Director, whose arm was in a sling “I want to see Amy.” he demands. Both the director and the doctor went quiet as Doctor Chakwa glanced back at her partner.

 

“Where is she?” he asks.

 

“Thomas, I-” The director starts but is cut off by Doctor Chakwa, who knew he wasn’t the best at delivering this kind of information. “Thomas...why don’t you get some rest, you took quite the beating, even more so mentally.” But Thomas had started to see through the smoke and mirrors as he stares at the bed across from his, a few vases of flowers left over from its previous inhabitant.

 

And suddenly it clicks.

 

Thomas looked back from the bed to the doctor and then to the director as he lowered his head silently. Thomas started shaking his head, looking at the doctor frantically, she had a pained look on her face.

 

“No…” He had told her to run, she was smart, he knew she was, she was going to leave- call the cops!

 

She may have been smart, but she was also extremely persistent. That’s what he loved about her after all.

 

_You just couldn’t have anyone else in the picture could you?_

 

Thomas shakes his head as a past memory that wasn’t his own echoed around inside his head. “No….no….no no no no no!” He shakes his head as he grabs his ears as if trying to stop the incessant noise.

 

“Thomas, she loved you very much.” Director Lykan offers as tears started streaming down the doctor’s face again, so much for being professional.

 

And just as Thomas looked like he was going to break out in tears, he goes silent, which deeply concerned the doctor.

 

It was quiet at first, the chuckling, but then it gradually became loud enough for Director Lykan to hear on the other side of the room.

  
“Thomas?” Doctor Chakwa asks nervously.

 

Suddenly the boy throws his head back and starts cackling madly, tears streaming down his eyes as he grips the sheets with ferocity, the room becoming darker and darker like a sinister vignette. The frantic doctor whipped her head around to her partner, who had a look of confusion and horror on his face.

 

“Cornelius, get the sedative!” She yells over the cackling as she places her hands on the boys shoulders, holding him down. Lykan, having found said sedative runs over and hands her the bottle.

 

“Hold him down!” She yells as she picks up a syringe and pours the liquid inside, quickly and precisely sticking it into the vein on the boy’s exposed arm, it was almost too dark for her to see anything as shadowed danced all around the room, oppressing them.

 

Thomas just kept cackling as the sedative was administered and soon his own laughs and the shouts of his colleagues were another world away as he passed out on the bed.

 

Doctor Chakwa stared in mild shock at the normally mellow boy who’d just went into total hysterics before her eyes. No... not hysterics. She’d seen hysterics, these were the signs of someone who was rapidly losing their grip on reality. And she couldn’t have been more heartbroken watching it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, that took me awhile, 12 pages in Google Docs and over 5,000 words later and I have my longest chapter yet. I dare say I'm quite satisfied with myself. Let me know what you think in the comments or whatever, next chapter is probably going to be hella NSFW, as I've been leading up to it for the last 6 chapters. Get hyped kids.


	7. [NSFW] Icarus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [NSFW] Just as Black Hat feels as if all else has failed in his efforts to retrieve some semblance of Anastasia in what remains of his former lover inside of Nocturne, a familiar face shows up to prove him wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: [NSFW] Soooo so so sorry I haven’t updated recently, I went on vacation and then school started and now its over and I hate giving excuses so I’m just going to stop right there. I’m going to try to finish the story itself pretty soon, as I was originally planning on keeping it around 10 chapters. But if I need to go any more or any less I will :) Onto the fic, there’s gonna be a shit ton of NSFW in this chapter. I mean honestly it’s all been leading up to this so I don’t even know why I have to warn you people. They gonna fuck.

Doctor Chakwa knew something was terribly wrong when the boy stopped speaking. It was like his lips were permanently sealed shut. He was practically a living statue, just staring at the bed where Amy died all day. He was clearly in a state of prolonged shock, and demonstrated signs of PTSD from whatever that monster had done to him.

****

He wouldn’t eat or drink, he would hardly even blink. And when she touched his skin, it was so…. _cold._ He was practically dead, it crushed her to see him like this. The boy, the _hero_ normally so full of life, had been turned into this.

****

Days passed, weeks even, and he still said nothing. Doctor Chakwa had finally had enough. She walked down to the medical bay, heels clacking against the tile floor as she thought of what she might say to the young man to get him to snap out of it.

****

Finally she rounded the corner, closing her eyes as she took a breath and stepped into the room. “Agent Drake. You _have_ to stop this nonsense!” She says, her fists balled as she walks towards the bed, realizing that he was lain on his side under the covers of the bed.

****

_It’s a start._ She thinks to herself as she paces forwards.

****

“Amy is dead! That monster killed her! It’s the truth, and yeah, it _hurts._ But laying around doing absolutely _nothing_ isn’t going to change that fact! Don’t you see you’re letting him _win_ by staying here?” She puts her hand on his shoulder.

****

“It’s time to come back to us Thomas, _please,_ for Amy’s sake!” She says, pulling the covers off of him to reveal….nothing.

****

Her eyes widen as she sees the pile of pillows left under the covers, a small indent in the mattress where he had once been.

****

“Oh, _no._ ”

****

**Months Later**

****

Black Hat sat in his large, grandiose chair behind the desk in his office, not sporting his signature trench coat as he was just in his business shirt and vest at the moment. He was so still one might think he weren’t even real. Business had practically ground to a halt, there had been no successful deals in the last three months, and he wasn’t answering any business calls.

****

Black Hat Incorporated was suffering heavily due to this, but of course Black Hat didn’t care, the only villain competent enough to go through with their plans successfully was himself; if he really wanted to watch the world burn he’d do it himself for the umpteenth time. In fact, one would think he’d already be out enacting some unspeakable horror on the inhabitants of this planet to take his mind off things, but for some reason, he couldn’t.

****

He just sat there, thinking about _her._ Old wounds had most certainly been opened back up, and nothing mattered anymore. And Thomas...It was like losing her all over again. Her face, his face, her eyes, his eyes, her voice, his voice. The lines were blurred so far it was like there was nothing left of either of them.

****

There _wasn’t._ She was dead, that much was true. But Thomas...he could have been saved. Instead of being condemned to a life of confusion and pain, he could have been at Black Hat’s side as Black Hat played the master, and Thomas the apprentice. He could have played on the already budding sociopathic and vengeful traits that had been dormant in the boy for so long.

****

He could have nurtured the gifts left for him by his former lover to fruition, turned Thomas into something completely different. Something _better._

****

It would have been a thing of unimaginable beauty.

****

But he was gone now, just like her. And if he hadn’t killed himself to end the pain and constant noise already, he was most likely locked up tight in some disgusting human facility where they were poking around inside his already sensitive head.

****

Black Hat tightened his fist at the thought, closing his eyes in anger. They didn’t deserve him. Not like _he_ did. Nocturne... _Thomas,_ was already beyond this world and it’s people. The bond that linked him, albeit a damaged one, transcended the stars. Just like with Anastasia.

****

It was a small comfort knowing that a piece of the boy would always be with him. Maybe that was all he needed. Yes, just a little pick me up. Perhaps he’d get on with the ‘enacting unspeakable horrors’ part of the job now. Hmm….he’d like that. A cruel grin spreads across the man’s face. He was about to stand when an all too familiar voice rocks his body with shock.

****

“ _Candygram~_ ” A voice from the corner of the room hums as two silently glowing purple pricks of light in the darkness become very noticeable to Black Hat. His face did about the closest thing to going pale that his charcoal skin would allow.

****

When Black Hat doesn’t respond, a sadistic chuckle, alarmingly _unnatural_ for the boy sifts from his lips and across the room into his ears as he walks into the dim red light flowing in from the window, casting a magnificent glow on his entire frame.

****

“What? You look surprised to see me. Don’t tell me you thought I’d play the victim to your little _mind games_ forever?” Another sinister chuckle makes its way out from the boy’s lips at the end of that sentence, almost as if his couldn’t control his giddiness.

****

“Tell me, err,” eyes coated in an alluring dark shadow cast down momentarily as if considering something before flicking back up to Black Hat with that same cruel grin plastered to his face, canines shining in the dark as he speaks up again, “ _Black Hat,”_ he drawls, as if he had some sort of blackmail over the creature in front of him. “That is your name right? Unless of course you prefer Christian. That’s what _she_ called you right?” The grin on his face spread slightly as he lidded his eyes as if savoring some past memory.

****

Thomas rolls his eyes, bored of staring at Black Hat’s shocked expression, turning instead to one of the bookshelves nearest him, laying eyes upon a bust of Black Hat scowling, a pleased grin growing on his face as he paced forwards towards it.

****

“Are you familiar with the tale of Icarus, Black Hat?” Not waiting for Black Hat to respond, he continues, running two fingers down the front of the bust absentmindedly. “A boy blessed with the ability of flight was finally set free from his cage... and what did he do with his gift?” The bust was now in his hand.

****

“He flew too close to the sun.” Black Hat says silently, a solemn, regretful tone in his voice.

****

Thomas smiles to himself, this time more of a pleasant twist to it rather than the ones laced with cruelty before. “And what happened to the boy, well…” Thomas lets the bust rolling out of his hand finish the sentence as it shatters against the floor. Black Hat doesn’t even flinch as he eyes the boy, a mixture of relief, guilt, and not oddly enough, _want_ in his onyx eyes.

****

Thomas’ eyes flick back to the demon as he stifles his laughter. “You see, Black Hat, you and me, we’re like Icarus. We both flew too close to the sun in our own way…” The boy looks contemplative for a moment before the same mischievous smile found its way onto his face as he paces towards Black Hat.

****

“And it was _intoxicating.”_ Black Hat pauses hearing this, was Thomas serious? He obviously wasn’t in his right mind, something had definitely gone wrong on his end with the linking process...but he _liked_ it?

“Of course...it was a lot to take in at first, what with the whole millennia worth of memories coming back to me and all, but...I figured out soon enough that was just the sting before the _buzz.”_ The boy chuckles again as he struts up to the demon, patting his hands on his chest as if straightening his suit collar for him, Black Hat looking concerned momentarily as the boy takes off, walking behind him.

****

“You two...had a very strong connection.” He pauses as if thinking on those memories once more, smiling with closed, satisfied eyes as a few come back to him. “It was almost too much...the memories, the raw _emotion_...although I suppose that is to be expected...I’m only human.” He lets out a short cackle, walking back to Black Hat now.

****

Suddenly he drapes his arms over the demon’s shoulders from behind him, leaning in close to his ear as the demon tightened, straightening his spine as if the boy’s mere touch would cause some irreparable damage.

****

“Tell me...did you _enjoy_ killing my girlfriend, Black Hat?” The boy asks, cooing into the demon’s ear. Black Hat closes his one eye at hearing these words, guilt washing over him, the boy’s sad, defeated face as Black Hat lay upon him came throbbing back to him suddenly.

****

“That’s what dear Anastasia seemed to think….after you _slaughtered_ her lover.” Thomas let that vile word slip off his tongue like a poison as it sifted into Black Hat’s ears, a whole new batch of memories he’d rather not dwell upon came rushing back to him.

****

“Thomas…” Black Hat breathes, and Thomas responds with a sweet sounding “Hm?” as he silently leers at the man with lidded eyes.

****

“It was never my intention to kill Amy…” Black Hat admits in that same breathy voice, clearing melting under Thomas’ touch.

****

“ _Ohhhoho_ , but you had every _intention_ to keep me as some sort of sick _memoir_ to the woman who left you when she realized what _depravity_ lay inside what would otherwise be an empty husk of a soul.”

****

Black Hat closed his eyes. The truth hurt. He was a monster, he had known this for all existence, and will continue to know it. No amount of making up for the past could change that. But it hurt so much more when Thomas said it.

****

“Did you like it when we kissed, Black Hat?” Thomas asks, cooing in Black Hat’s ear again. “Did it remind you of _her_?” He asks in a taunt. And suddenly he phases through the demon and reappears on the other side, facing him.

****

“Or perhaps we can find out ourselves…” He says, and leans forwards, smashing his lips into Black Hat’s roughly as if he were a cat pouncing on a mouse, but Black Hat knew better than that. The boy wasn’t here for such trivial things, he wanted _more._

****

This much was made true when he felt a prodding at the back of his mind. Something wanted in, and was desperately clawing its way in like its life depended on it. It didn’t take long for Black Hat to realize it was Thomas. He easily pushes him out, the boy was experienced, but Thomas was still nothing compared to Black Hat's prowess in the art of mental linking.

****

Thomas separates from the kiss, smiling with a hint of disappointment in his eyes. “You’ve proven yourself an expert at guilt-tripping me. But why are you really here Thomas?” Black Hat asks as he stares into the boy’s eager eyes. He wasn’t going to lie, both the look in his eyes, and the way he’d kissed him...he didn’t know how he’d restrained himself from merely taking the boy right then and there.

****

Thomas notices this and chuckles as he responds. “The link you performed on me months ago was severed. It wasn’t finished. In layman’s terms, you left me hanging.” Thomas says in a sigh, as if bored of the whole conversation, clearly wanting to just get on with it already.

****

“The things I’ve seen...I had to have _more.”_ He grabs at Black Hat’s collar with these words, licking his lips slightly as if savoring the past experience once more. “I want you to take me there again. And I _know_ you want to as well.” He smirks, knowing he’d already won, watching the lust wash over Black Hat’s gazing eye.

****

To seal the deal the boy leans into the demon’s ear in a soft whisper the other had to almost strain to hear, the two words “ _Take me_ ”, registering like an explosion in the demon’s ears as he suddenly lurches forwards, taking both of them off their feet. In a blink, they were on a bed in another room in the mansion as inky black tentacles started sprouting out from under Black Hat’s blood red business shirt as their mouths locked in a way all too gentle given the current circumstances.

****

Thomas flushed as he felt that invading presence all too familiar to him prodding away at his consciousness once more, and he let the floodgates drop, that pleasurable buzz of pain washing over him once more as he groaned a lustful moan into Black Hat’s mouth, letting that long serpentine tongue fill him whole.

****

Tentacles began sliding under the boy’s shirt and curling around his limbs both purposely and instinctively as his drive to claim the young man as his grew by the second, the mewling noises of said other beneath him not helping anything to dull the effect.

****

He was already starting to smell like her again, that faint smell of roses and strawberries would have been enough to make him salivate were his alien tongue not already eight inches deep in Thomas’ mouth.

“ _Yes.”_ Thomas simply says as he relishes in euphoria. He had made it there. He’d gotten what he’d wanted, and _fuck_ was he satisfied. All the months spent searching for the answers in all the wrong places, and now he’d finally found them. But he couldn’t help but feel that he’d forgotten something as he opened his eyes to see the demon going crazy on top of him, and he’s reminded what the other wants clearly.

****

_Oh._

****

He smirks to himself as he locks eyes with Black Hat, he could easily leave the demon right now, be on the other side of the planet in an instant, and leave the creature wanting more but unable to seek it out. It wouldn’t even come close to punishment. But something inside him told him not to.

****

_Screw it. Damn demon..._

****

Thomas suddenly grabs Black Hat’s arms and flips them both around so he’s on top now, already moving to take his shirt off, revealing the lithe, muscled form beneath.

****

A look of mild satisfaction makes its way onto Black Hat’s face as he brings his hands to Thomas’ sides first before they make their way all about the boy’s chest and abdomen, exploring every inch of his perfect body. Naturally sharpened claws left small red marks in the pale skin as Thomas throws his shirt to the side.

****

Tentacles glinting in the light of the bedroom caressed the boy’s pale skin as they kissed along his ribcage, down to his obliques and across the abs, dipping down to less respectable areas as they traced and groped around Thomas’ still clothed groin.

****

Thomas lidded his eyes, biting his lip as he moved against the pressure of the appendages against his pelvic region, letting out a reverberating chuckle, opening his eyes to stare back into the abyss of Black Hat’s lustful gaze.

****

“ _Ohhh_ , you want this _so_ badly don’t you?” Thomas coos in an almost berating manner, to which he receives an alarming pain in his side as Black Hat suddenly digs his sharp alien claws into his kidney to silence the boy.

****

“Don’t act as if you don’t want this yourself, _child_.” He says, growing irritated with the constant prodding.

****

Thomas, unfazed, lids his eyes again with a hum of a laugh. “Ah, there it is, the hardened shell of the businessman everyone knows and despises, here to skillfully conceal all of his innermost desires and emotions as per the usual.” His eyes hold obvious mirth as he plants his hands on the wall above Black Hat, face inches from the demon's’ own.

****

After a moment of locked eye contact, Thomas breaks away, staring off to the side with a look of clear sexual frustration as he growls under his breath. And was that... _guilt_ the demon saw in his eyes for a brief moment?

****

“ _Fuck,_ you just can’t stay out of my head can you?” He sighs as he collapses his mouth against Black Hat’s again, to which said demon gladly complies as he bites at the boy’s lip lightly, sliding his claws under the brim of the boy’s black pants, grinning through the rough kiss as he savored his impending victory. The boy was quick to move his hands under the monster’s own clothing, pulling and stretching to rip the fabric off as soon as possible, Black Hat’s own tentacles helping the youth along.

****

Black Hat pulls away briefly to ask a question “Thomas, are you sure about-” He begins, “Shut the hell up and take your fucking clothes off already.” Thomas cuts him off as he begins moving down towards the demon’s pelvic region. Of course Black Hat didn’t much care if Thomas was ready or not, as the boy was too far gone now to even be able to tell for himself, but the look in his eyes earlier…

****

His train of thought was thoroughly derailed as he felt the boy picking at the zipper to his pants, and when he can’t pull it down he simply growls and make use of his abilities to tug the business pants off, a pleased look on his face when his prize is revealed.

****

A single tentacle, doused in a thin layer of green slime, and much thicker than any of the others splayed out before him. Thomas smirked, seemingly unfazed as he wraps his two hands around it, arousing a pleased grunt from Black Hat at the sensation. Thomas lolls his tongue out playfully as he looks up at Black Hat whilst licking at the tip teasingly. Black Hat smirks back, as if encouraging him to go on, which of course he does.

****

Slowly sliding his wet lips around the alien shaft before him, he slowly makes his way down the length of the demon, nearly making it fully to the base before needing to come back up. Fuck, the demon almost had him choking. But nonetheless, he soon made it down the near ten inch cock, with some help from Black Hat of course, who by now had a clawed hand around the back of the young man’s head, pressing down with force as he moaned in pleasure.

****

Thomas wasted no time picking up the pace as he started moving up and down the shaft, deep throating the demon as he moaned into each thrust, taking clear notice of the tentacles slowly sliding up and around his legs, beginning to shuck his jeans off...

****

Black Hat continued to moan, placing another clawed hand on the back of the boy’s head as he thrusted harder and rougher into the clearly experienced mouth before him, or at least he assumed Thomas was experienced enough, for if he’d never done this before (which he hadn’t) he certainly was a fast learner. He’d liked to think he would be the first to take the young man in this way, as he couldn’t help but feel some form of disgust over the idea of anyone other than him having the boy.

****

By now the tentacles around the boy’s legs were firmly holding him in place, the boy moaning softly through his stuffed mouth at the feeling of having something foreign between his legs for the first time. A third tentacle had arrived by now, this time harboring the same green slick as the one currently in Thomas’ mouth, it slid up and around his thigh before reaching his entrance, sliding across the area gently as it prepared its entry. It pulled away next before hovering around the young man’s hole shortly, and then abruptly shoving itself in as Thomas’ eyes widen, knowing it would come but not so suddenly as he chokes on the tentacle currently in his mouth.

****

Black Hat chuckles as he brings his hand down to brush a stray strand of disheveled black hair from the boy’s pale face, his other now gripped around his member which had made its way out of the boy’s mouth.

****

Thomas brings his eyes up to meet Black Hat’s, letting out a breathy chuckle as he wipes ectoplasm from his mouth, a smirk slowly creeping onto his face as he sits up with Black Hat still sheathed inside him, causing the demon to grit his razor sharp teeth from the sensation.

****

“Is that the best you’ve got?” Thomas leans forwards, lips locking roughly with the demon, moaning in reply to Black Hat’s razor sharp teeth sinking in slightly to his lower lip, the taste of blood washing over both of their mouths. Thomas slides his hands up Black Hat’s chest until they arrive at his neck moving slowly until they are around the demon’s neck, hands beginning to tighten until they are in a vice.

****

Black Hat simply chuckles at the boy’s roughness, Anastasia had been feisty, but certainly not as...vibrant as Thomas. In an instant the two of them are on the other side of the room, Black Hat sheathing his member into Thomas from behind as he grabs his arms, folding them both behind the young man until they are both crushed in one clawed hand.

****

Black Hat leans in behind the young man “I am I not... _satisfactory_ enough for you, Thomas?” He cooes into the teen’s ear menacingly, nibbling on his earlobe momentarily as he waits for a response.

****

“Fuck off..” Thomas grunts from beneath the demon. “Mm...very well then.” Black Hat says in a light voice, almost _kind_ for the nature of the embodiment of evil. Thomas pants suddenly, prickles of sweat suddenly agitating his skin as he feels the member in his bowels shift slightly.

****

“What the ff-aaHAH!” The boy stammers as he feels the tentacle inside him become much more thick, and much more buried inside his body. “Hmph.” Black Hat simply says as he thrusts once into the boy, immediately halting whatever smartass comment he knew was about to come out of the teen writhing beneath him.

****

“Ah! Ahnnnnfuck~.” Thomas squeaks as the demon starts thrusting at a more constant pace. “Mm, I think I quite like you in this state the most, _Nocturne._ ” Black Hat croons, an amused smile having crept across his charcoal mug. “You’re just so... _edible_.” The monster chuckles a dark chuckle as he leans into the boy, the shift in weight behind him causing him to mewl slightly in agitation due to the length sheathed inside him.

****

Black Hat lolls his serpentine tongue out, trailing it from Nocturne’s spine up to his neck, where he breathes in the scent of the young man beneath him. “ _Delectable._ ” He simply states before roughly biting down onto Thomas’ shoulder. That will definitely hurt in the morning.

****

Nocturne belts out an excruciating cry of pain, tears forming in his eyes from the knives embedded in his shoulder. Soon enough however the scream turns into a small laugh, confusing the demon, still latched onto the young man, Thomas only continues with his hysteria until he is locked into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Black Hat keeps his maw clamped to Nocturne’s shoulder for a moment longer before suckling on the blood pouring out of the wound. The laughter begins to slow as Nocturne’s breaths become slightly more labored.

****

“Are you quite done?” Black Hat asks, sounding bored as he thrusts into the boy again, hoping to put him back in line, to which the boy only closes his eyes in reaction, letting out a soft puff of his breath.

****

“Harder.” Thomas simply says in a flat voice, Black Hat regarding him wearily as he places his hands on the boys hips, drawing himself out of the boy in concern.

****

“Thomas?” He asks, wondering if he’d gone too far in maiming the boy so roughly. Thomas growls at the feeling of the demon’s length leaving him. He wastes no time in shadow-walking them to the nearest wall, his back to the cold surface, his legs wrapped around Black Hat’s trim waist.

****

“I said... **harder.** ” Thomas growls in a voice that wasn’t his, a voice he may had noticed had Thomas not suddenly impaled himself on the demon. Black Hat groans in pleasure, watching the boy try to use the wall behind him to fuck himself on Black Hat’s length.

****

“Alright Thomas, but you asked for it.” Black Hat says, not even sure that Thomas could hear him through the haze anymore as he took him back to the bed…

****

**_Hours Later_ **

****

Black Hat licked his lips as he looked at the boy now, his eyes no longer resembling Anastasia’s, as he had finally closed that door with the mental link from earlier, in fact, the boy’s eyes had inexplicably taken a more green hue to them now. Nevertheless, Black Hat couldn’t be happier with the separation, he’d achieved everything that he’d wanted from the start, and the next step would be to fully convert the boy to his cause, which he had no doubt he’d be capable of doing after tonight. But when Black Hat stares back into Thomas’s perfect orbs his train of thought is halted completely.

****

“H-hoah _f-fuck_.” Thomas mutters in his own voice, seemingly out of the earlier haze. He seemed confused as to where he was, before his eyes suddenly lid themselves shut and his body lazily lurches off the edge of the bed. Dozens of charcoal tendrils catch his body before he can hit the ground however as Black Hat catches him, staring confusedly at the boy who had been a bundle of energy moments ago.

****

“Thomas? Thomas, snap out of it!” Were the only words registered in the boy’s ears before his consciousness sinks into an inky black haze of fuzziness…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It’s about 12:30AM right now and I just now am finishing this up. Funny how the most NSFW part of this book took my the longest to complete (for those of you who were wondering the entire first part of the chapter with the two of them conversing was done around the same time as the other chapters, and the rest of it was spread across many months of debating whether or not I should even continue with the story, most of which I finished just now). I just couldn’t leave you guessing. Yes, I am going to finish the story, probably, maybe. My OCD will force me to get around it. I guess the root of my reluctance was that I felt that the story wasn’t doing too well, but when I looked back most of the people who were reading it were giving positive feedback regardless. If you were one of those people, I’m sorry ;_; forgive me pls.


	8. Dark Sides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas recovers from his psychosis under the care of Black Hat, who begins to enact his plans for the boy in secret, with much success right off the bat...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: More of a plot based chapter this time around, but don’t worry, there will be more NSFW before the end of the story ;)

When Thomas woke up it was early morning, and he could hear the telltale pitter patter of a light rain from somewhere nearby. Gradually, he opened his eyes, groaning softly to himself, the soft brightness of the room blinding him momentarily, waving a hand in front of his face as his eyes adjusted, the feeling itself akin to waking up from a long night of drinking.

 

As he blinked his eyes into focus, he took note of his surroundings. He was not in a hospital bed, nor was he in his apartment bedroom, the coldness of the bed from the lack of another human being’s warmth made that clear enough. In fact, he did not recognize where he was at all until he labored his line of sight to the left of the bed he lay in.

 

The brightness of the grey skies dousing the earth with rain outside caused Thomas to squint his eyes again, blinking a few times more until the silhouette of someone standing there, staring out the window came into better focus.

 

Upon realizing who it was standing there silently, a pantheon of memories from the previous night, and many nights beforehand came flooding back into his consciousness one traumatizing memory at a time. The weight of said memories causing the young man to hold a hand to his head, Thomas groaning in agitation.

 

Black Hat turns from the window, charcoal orbs glinting in the reflection of the ambient light of the room as he stares down at his prized possession.

 

“Ah, you’re awake. I was beginning to worry after Flug said your brain activity was suspended.” He says in a calm manner. Thomas, still holding his head in both confusion and discomfort mutters in confusion, “B-Brain activity? W-what…” 

 

Black Hat exhales, his eyes glazing off of Thomas for the moment, “You’ve experienced a series of nasty brain hemorrhages, as Dr. Flug explained. Apparently caused by a multitude of psychotic breaks, in fact. You were placed under immediate care of the good doctor, who performed surgery on you to mend the ruptures. I’ve been instructed to keep you in bed rest for the time being.”

 

“B-Bedrest? No...what? None of this is right…” Thomas throws the bed sheets to the side, sitting up in the bed with urgency, “I-I need to get back to Amy, she’ll be worried about how long I’ve bee-ACH!” He shouts in pain, Black Hat rushing to his side, one hand around his wrist and the other on his back as he lays him back down in the bed.

 

“Thomas...It’s important that you don’t make any sudden movements. Your perception of things is still...sensitive from the surgery.” Black Hat says in a soft voice, staring down at the boy as he attempts to cope with the information overload.

 

As Thomas’ eyes adjust once more after the jolt of pain from moving so suddenly, he looks around once more as if he were confused as to who and where he was once more, but once he stares up at Black Hat again, fear and anger wash over his eyes.

 

“You…” He suddenly fumes, staring at the demon’s hands so intimately placed on his body, finding himself disgusted by the contact as he shakes violently to get the monster off of him. “What have you done! What did you do! What- wh-” He suddenly chokes up as images of Black Hat throwing Amy like a ragdoll flash in his head.  _ She loved you very much Thomas… _ The pained words of Dr. Chakwa come back to him, the realization becoming so clear to him now, the stress of it all causing the edges of his vision to draw into black once more.

 

Black Hat closed his eyes, exhaling in sorrow. Flug had said it would be difficult, as if the choppy amnesia weren’t enough to deal with already. It was no telling how long it would take Thomas to ride out the symptoms. His clawed hand reaches out to brush a few stray strands of hair from the boy’s face. With as much chaos as was going on inside, Black Hat found that he looked quite peaceful in his sleep. He stands, deciding to let the boy rest. He would need it, for the plans that he had in store for him.

 

**_Days Later_ **

 

_ CRASH! _

 

“Demencia! You’re not supposed to be in here!” Came the pleads of Dr. Flug from deep within Black Hat Manor. “HA-HA” Came the taunts of the self pronounced ‘Snake-Thing’ Demencia soon after. 

 

A typical day in the manor it would seem. But it was not a typical day, no, they’d had a visitor in the manor for quite some time now, a visitor that Black Hat had gone to every length to keep from the prying eyes of anyone not immediately involved in the case of that certain visitor.

 

And Demencia wanted to know more about this visitor.

 

Much to the chagrin of Dr. Flug, who’d made the mistake of not checking if anyone had been at the door before leaving to get the required dosage of medication for Thomas, after having measured incorrectly in his lab moments before (most likely due to lack of sleep). But now he stared, wide awake and in horror at what would surely evoke another beating from Black Hat, as Demencia prances up to the bed of their visitor.

 

“Ouuu~ ain’t he cute!” Demencia swoons, hands folded behind her as she bends over the bed at almost a 90 degree angle. Flug rushes as fast as he can to the bed as he can without physically running, as he would surely be winded after that, oh no, that surely wouldn’t do.

 

“Demencia!” Flug whispers with urgence, “We shouldn’t be in here right now! Black Hat just left for a business call, he’ll be back any minute! I only chose now to give him his medicine so I wouldn’t have to be in the same room as boss!” Flug gulped even thinking about what sort of punishment Black Hat might dish out after this insubordination.

 

“Oh cool your jets, I ain’t gonna be here long, I jus’ wanted a little peeksie.” Demencia giggled as she turns her head to look at Thomas’ face, to which she suddenly furrows her brow in realization. “Hey...wait a minute I recognize this guy...ain’t he that hero type whose girlfriend Black Hat ganked?” Demencia tilts her head, Flug tugging on her arm to no effect.

 

“Demencia! We really need to leave, like _now!_ ” Flug pleads once more.

 

“Yeah, yeah Flug, gimme one more minute.” Demencia shakes Flug off easily as she hops on the bed, grabbing Thomas’ cheeks with a devious grin. “Hey, Flug, I wonder if he’s a good kisser, heheh.” She jokes as she leans in for a smooch. Before she can go any further however, the sound of a door slamming shut behind them halts all movement whatsoever.

 

Flug gulped, not even needed to turn around to know who it was. Demencia, still straddling Thomas’ sleeping body, turns her head around to meet Black Hat’s silently furious eyes with her own sheepish green. In an instant she’s off Thomas and standing next to Flug, who is now shaking in his boots.

 

“B-Boss I can explain-” Demencia starts but is silenced by Black Hat sticking one clawed finger in the air. Oh yeah, he was pissed.

 

“We...will discuss your punishments later.” Black Hat simply says in a calm voice. “For now, you will get out of my  _ sight _ .” It didn’t take much more encouragement for the two of them to quickly make themselves scarce.

 

Black Hat closes his eyes and keeps them shut until he hears the door close behind him, relaxing his stiff form with a drawn out sigh when it does so. Too much more from those two and he’d end up in Thomas’ state before long.

 

His thought process was cut short however when a familiar voice draws him out of his woes. “C-Christian?” Black Hat pales hearing that name, looking up to match Thomas’ stares, propped up on his elbows in the bed.

 

“Who were your friends?” He asks, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Black Hat slowly makes his way to the side of the bed, astonished at how...normal Thomas looked.

 

“N-No one…” Black Hat breathes, sitting down on the bed next to Thomas, still staring into Thomas’ eyes, now green orbs (he presumed from the trauma). “How are you feeling?” he asks, swallowing slightly as he looks down, realizing which version of Thomas he was speaking to.

 

Thomas blinks, shaking his head as if to remove the cobwebs, hand moving to his jaw to rub it gently. “Well...I feel like my head was fuckstarted by a gorilla,” He says, Black Hat almost rolling his eyes at the young man’s particular sense of humor, “but...other than that I feel fine...actually...I feel...good.” Thomas says, the look on his face showing how confused he seemed himself at that fact.

 

“What do you mean?” Black Hat asks, his hand resting on Thomas’ own, though the boy didn’t seem to mind. “I dunno...I...just, everything seems more clear now...I can’t really explain it...but, I’m not complaining.” Thomas looks up to Black Hat, suddenly noticing his hand on his. Thomas shifts slightly and Black Hat notices the uncertainty, sitting up straighter as he takes his hand away from the boys, biting his lip.

 

Thomas crosses his arms, turning his head slightly, not letting the blush he felt approaching show itself on his fact. “Ah...so, uh, what...happened?” He asks, turning to Black Hat, who decides not to explain the surgery, as that didn’t end too well the last time he explained it to the mentally fragile boy.

 

“There was...an accident. The CAPA was attacked by an unknown assailant. You were caught in the middle of it all, and were knocked unconscious during the chaos of it all. I was nearby during the siege, and managed to find my way to you.” Black Hat explains to Thomas, who looks down at his scarred hands as if trying to remember through the haze.

 

“Oh...god...Amy...something bad...Jesus, Christian please tell me she’s okay.” Thomas pleads to the downcast eyes of Black Hat. “You...managed to save the Director and a few others...but Amy got separated from you during the worst of it. They couldn’t save her.” Black Hat explains, Thomas breathing out in silent agony.

 

“I know...this is hard Thomas, believe me, I know. I’m sure she didn’t leave in any sort of pain, and received the best medical care they could-” Black Hat was cut off by Thomas wrapping his arms around him, his lithe body tightening around Black Hat, and then going limp as the silent tears come streaming down his face. Black Hat does not deny this affection, wrapping suited arms around the youth, a clawed hand running itself through his dark hair as Thomas rests his head on the demon’s chest. 

 

Despite all of the torture Black Hat had put the boy through, reliving memories, undergoing soul-crushing revelations, he couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself. It seemed fate had a set path for the two of them, and Black Hat had no qualms with that fact whatsoever, if his plans for the boy were to succeed, he’d have to put his faith in fate.

 

He remained like that with the boy for hours, Thomas having long since fallen asleep by then, but Black Hat didn’t move from him. He quite preferred the boy’s closeness to any aspect of his work that would be likely to greet him the moment he left that room. He’d much rather be enveloped in the warmth of another being, especially one so similar to  _ her _ , as he set his sights on the future.

 

_ Oh, Thomas, I have such sights to show you… _

 

**_One Month Later_ **

 

Thomas couldn’t help but laugh after Christian tells him some dark joke, nearly spilling the coffee from his mug right onto his converse. 

 

“I shouldn’t be laughing at that.” He says, immediately breaking into another fit of laughing, Black Hat even chuckling to himself watching the youth so engaged in their conversation. He couldn’t remember the last time he had actually had such a talk with another. Sure, there was business as usual, but that was business, and business was boring. At least, compared to such a vibrant companion as Thomas.

 

Over the past month Black Hat had found that Thomas was really not so much different from him. Of course, given the fact that Black Hat was an ancient, alien being, and Thomas was still practically a child by human standards. But oh, how he spoke as if he had lived just as long as Black Hat had. An old soul perhaps, he figured.

 

Thomas was talking now about how he’d once had to kidnap some German billionaire war criminal for the agency- by throwing him in the trunk of his own car and driving off with it. Black Hat smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm, finding himself caught in his eyes once more. Black Hat liked the change in color, the green was a good fit for Thomas. Which had been one of the primary reasons for a recent project he’d tasked Dr. Flug with undertaking in the last week or two…

 

“And so I’m at the drop off and this guy tells me: ‘You von’t get avay vit’ diz’ American! There vill be consequences for your actions!’ In the most obviously fake German accent ever, me and the rest of the agents there could barely contain our laughter. Dude turned out to be San Marinian or something, I didn’t even know San Marino was a country, thought it was a sparkling water brand or something. Who knew.” Thomas took another sip of his coffee as he leaned against the marble top counter in Black Hat’s lavish office.

 

“Well,” Black Hat says, setting the glass of wine he’d been nursing on his desk, trading it off for a black remote that had been sitting there instead, “I figured you might be antsy to resume your nighttime activities, and had this made for you, seeing as how the old one was destroyed.” Black Hat presses a button on the remote, and a compartment in the wall opens up, revealing some sort of outfit. The fluorescent lights of the compartment burst on however to reveal exactly what it was.

 

Thomas’ mouth gapes, setting his mug on the counter to stare at an updated version of his old agency outfit. Beautifully designed, identical to the old one but with a much more updated and technologically inclined look. But one thing struck him the most out of anything else.

 

“Green?” He turns to Black Hat cocking an eyebrow, who shrugs. “Figured you might like a change of pace, if it’s not to your liking I can have Flug rework it to your specification?”

 

“No, no, that’s fine. I was just...curious as to the change. I suppose it is kinda called for, huh?” Thomas remarks, even catching the green glint of his eyes in the reflection of the armored plating of the suit. Another small detail catches his eye, however, noticing lettering on the outer thigh plating of the suit:

 

**XCII-THANATOS**

 

“Thanatos....s’kinda edgy don’t you think?” Thomas turns to Black Hat, who shrugs once more, cocking his eyebrow dismissively. “The name wasn’t my idea.” He simply says, and Thomas tuts, turning back around to admire the craftsmanship, once more noticing the same lettering on the left underarm plating.

 

“XCII…” He mutters, and then facepalming after converting the numerals in his head “Please tell me Flug didn’t make 92 versions of this thing trying to make it perfect.” he says, knowing full well that the doctor did, in fact, do such a thing. 

 

“Black Hat Incorporated delivers nothing short of perfection.” Black Hat says smugly, to which Thomas rolls his eyes smirking. 

 

“Christian...I don’t know what to say.” Thomas turns to Black Hat, who shakes his head. “Say nothing, and go put on a show for me with your new toys instead.” Black Hat smirks at Thomas, whose eyes widen with glee.

 

“Wh- you mean- like now?” He says, Black Hat nodding his head once, to Thomas’ exclamations of joy, like a kid at Christmas. There shall be toys indeed.

 

**_That Night_ **

 

Nocturne exhaled the crisp winter night air of St. Louis. His city. It felt like ages since he had been here, and regardless of why he was here, he was just happy to be back. 

 

Cold air rushed past Nocturne as he dives from the roof of the building he’d been atop, his hair exposed from the opening in the top of his mask whipping through the wind, giving him expectant chills. Thomas didn’t even know where he was planning on going that night, he just went where the wind lead him. Cliche, he thought to himself, but it bore fruit when he suddenly hears sirens up ahead of him. He grins under his mask, making his way quickly to the source of the noise.

 

A robbery, it would seem. Classic. Cops had already arrived on the scene, but it would seem that the robbers had been one step ahead of them, and taken hostages. Thomas did the math in his head, he figured SLPD SWAT wouldn’t make it there for another 20-30 minutes, and that was if they had already even been called in. That wouldn’t be enough time for negotiators to defuse the situation. He’d have to go fast, thankfully he had his powers on his side.

 

When he arrived on the roof of the bank, he quickly made his way to the nearest venting unit, puffing out steam into the cold winter night air. With any luck, the cops would have followed standard procedure and cut the power by now. When his body shifts into a dark cloud and sifts through the vent, coming out the other side into a room full of cubicles, that much was made true. He nearly shuddered, this would be too easy.

 

_ Thank you SLPD… _ He thinks to himself, as his body shifts back into shadow form, floating through the halls of the bank until he finds where the hostages had been taken to. It didn’t take long, however, as it seemed the would-be robbers were keeping the 7-or-so hostages in a room behind the main lobby. Of the robbers there were only two watching the hostages, Thomas figured the rest were either opening or already in the vault.

It didn’t take long for him to knock out the two idiots guarding the hostages, a single shadow zipping around the room until all of the restraints on the hostages were cut loose.

 

“Stay low, and stay quiet, when you get outside show the cops your hands so they know you’re unarmed.” Nocturne instructs, hoping that at least most of them would hear him through the shock. When all the hostages had left the room he turned around, making his way to the vault, which he found had already been opened.

 

The rest of the crew were inside, two of them picking up what they could and filling it into their duffel bags, while the other two were working on what looked like an even more intricate vault door. One of them was working on drilling it, while the other was instructing him hurriedly, Thomas could tell this one was the leader.

 

“Well, I guess everyone’s in the Christmas spirit tonight.” Nocturne says, armed crossed over his chest as he stands, facing the motley crew of idiots. The all turn to him at once, all jumping in surprise.

 

“Who the fuck is this guy?!” Says one of the men filling the duffle bags. “Who cares! Fucking waste him!” Says the crew leader, firing one bullet out of his revolver into Nocturne’s chest.

 

_ DINGGG! _

 

The bullet whizzes off the diamond plated titanium armor of his new suit. “Tsk.” Nocturne simply says before whipping around the room, uppercutting one of the bag-fillers, then swiftly weaving around a spray of bullets, swinging his leg out and kicking the assault rifle out of the man’s hands. He grabs the driller by his collar, slamming him into a metal table-rack used for displaying cash. The leader tries to pistol-whip him from behind, but Nocturne senses the displaced air and grabs the leader’s arm, twisting the gun out of his hand and breaking his wrist in the process. He brings his leg up to kick the leader in the chest, knocking him into the final thug, knocking him out cold.

 

Nocturne twists his wrists and rolls his shoulders, a good workout. “Me likey the new suit, Flug.” He mutters to himself before he hears a voice from behind him. “Who….are you?” The heist leader groans from behind him, seemingly confused. This troubles Nocturne, had he hit him too hard?

 

“What, you’re saying you don’t recognize little old me?” Thomas says with mirth in his voice as he looks at the pathetic display of the man crumpled on the floor of the vault in front of him. Before the criminal can respond he hears a gun clicking behind him, he whips around, ready for a fight, but stops when he sees a group of police behind him.

 

“Freeze! You are under arrest by order of the St. Louis Police Department!” The officer shouts. _ What?  _ Had he really been gone that long? Still, he raises his hands in the air compliantly. “Guys, you seriously don’t remember who I am? It’s me, Nocturne! I’m the reason you guys always cut the power during stuff like this!” He says, referencing the robbery he had just foiled. “Nocturne is dead,  _ freak. _ It was people like you that killed him, now get on your knees and put your hands behind your head!” The cop shouts.

 

Nocturne sighs, he didn’t have time for this shit. He puffed into a cloud of smoky black shadow and got the hell out of there as fast as possible. He burst out the front doors of the building, flying into the air high above the city. He needed to clear his head. Why hadn’t Christian gotten in touch with CAPA after the siege to confirm his status? And why had he been so adamant for Thomas to get back into the swing of things? I mean yeah, he supposed it might help cope with his trauma but...in the state of things as they were now? It seemed a little off to him…

 

Black Hat, of course, had been watching all of this through CCTV as well as through the camera he’d had Flug install into Thomas’ new suit, keeping his eye on him at all times. The boy had performed wonderfully, just as always. And the police had reacted just as he had expected. Nearly 6 months since the heroes’ disappearance and the people of St. Louis had to move on at some point, their police included. The first phase of his plan had gone perfectly, but now it was time to give Nocturne that push that would cement his loyalty to Black Hat for good.

 

Black Hat moved his clawed hand to press the small button under his desk that would broadcast his voice to Dr. Flug’s laboratory. “Doctor, activate the serum in Thomas’ suit now. And ready the car.” He says calmly, to which the Doctor responds with a shaky “Okay, sir.” 

 

Black Hat removes his hand from the intercom, watching the feed from Nocturne’s suit intently now, watching the suits vitals register the drug being entered into the boys’ system silently once more before he grabs his coat.

 

Nocturne leaped through the air, running across rooftops, switching between his gaseous form and solid form in a perfected dance that only he could perform. He did this when he was thinking hard on something, a superhuman jog of sorts across the city. 

 

_ Why didn’t Lykan attempt to contact me?  _ He wonders as he flips over a chimney stack, continuing his momentum.  _ Did he...give up on me?  _ The thought is thrust away from him as he hears a feminine shriek from somewhere below him.

 

“Amy?” Thomas wonders to himself, stopping his movement as he hears the shriek again, breaking into a run now as he gets closer to the sound. “Amy! I’m coming!” Thomas sprints for the edge of the building, leaping for a fire escape and latching on with one hand as he looks down, trying to make sense of what was going on below him.

 

A man, wrestling around with another, a woman who looked eerily similar to…. _ No.  _ It couldn’t have been, was that really her? Nocturne leaped down from the fire escape, trying to get closer to the spectacle. The man had Amy at knifepoint, and was about to-  _ Oh no. _

No, he wouldn’t let it happen. Not again. He jumped down behind the man, smacking the knife out of his hand so hard it flew into the wall and stayed there. “Hey, what the-” The man says in confusion as Nocturne grabs him by the neck.

 

“ **Don’t fucking touch her!”** He yells animalistically, throwing the man into the wall. Amy screams from behind him, her voice sounding off, but he doesn’t care. The man would pay for thinking he could touch her like that. He grabs the man by his collar, slamming him into the wall again. He roars at the mans terrified face, grabbing his head and slamming it into the side of a dumpster, picking him up again and doing the same over and over.

 

_ Slam! _

 

_ SLAM!  _

 

**_SLAM!_ **

 

The man stops moving after the third or fourth time, and Thomas simply drops him on the ground like a discarded toy. He turns to Amy, only for her to rush past him in tears, to Nocturne’s confusion.

 

“Amy, wait!” He pleads, Thomas furrowing his brow in confusion until he notices the dark skin of the woman running from him, and the ring on her finger glinting in the moonlight, becoming clear to him that this was not Amy after all. Thomas looks down at his bloodied hands, the snow at his feet having turned red with all of it. He suddenly feels like he’s going to be sick.

 

“Hey.” He says to the man, unmoving on the floor, his brain matter currently emptying onto the sidewalk. “Hey!” Nocturne kicks him over only to be met with dead, unmoving eyes.  _ Jesus Christ.  _ Thomas turns around, shuffling out of the alleyway like a drunk, his vision going blurry as his face tingles with dread.  _ What have I done? _

 

Thomas couldn’t remember when Black Hat arrived to take him back to the manor, nor does he respond when said demon wraps his arms around the boy as they sit in the back of the limo in silence. Black Hat normally would be fuming now at the amount of blood on his freshly tailored suit, but he made an exception for Thomas. It had been a big day for him today, and progress had certainly been made. Black Hat couldn’t help but let a pleased smile cross his visage as he closed his eyes softly, Thomas still rigid in his arms, his eyes wide open and glossed over.

 

When they got back to the manor Black Hat stripped the boy of his bloodied armor, and clothing beneath, carrying him to the bathroom and placing him in the bathtub, running the water at the perfect temperature. Black Hat bathed him, and dried him off when they were done, dressing him in silk clothing that may or may not have outlined all the boys’ curves to Black Hat’s liking, carrying him to Black Hat’s bed afterwards.

 

Thomas laid there in Black Hat’s arms, not having said a word since the incident. Black Hat almost jumped in surprise when he opened his mouth.

 

“I did something bad today, didn’t I?” Thomas says, his stare still placid and unmoving. Black Hat tilts his head, looking down at the boy as he brings his hand up to stroke the boys’ hair. “Bad is relative, Thomas.” He simply says in return, the boy shakes his head.

 

“I….I  _ killed  _ him.” He says, fear in his voice as he looks down. “I’m a  _ murderer… _ ” His voice flat and unwavering, as if he were intent on stating all the facts. Black Hat sighs, looking down at the young man in his arms. “You did what you had to, to save an innocent life. Isn’t that what heroes do?” Black Hat says, a coo in his voice almost patronizing, but the boy didn’t catch it.

 

He simply shakes his head again. “I’m not a hero.” He states in return. “Not after tonight.” He leans into Black Hat’s chest silently, closing his eyes, feeling dreadfully tired after the stress of the night.

 

“Whatever you choose to be, I know you’ll make the right decision.” Black Hat says, Thomas humming in response, slowly falling asleep to the cathartic strokes of Black Hat’s obsidian claws.

 

_ I am so proud of you, Thomas.  _ Black Hat smiles as he stares off into space, the events of the night having gone more than swimmingly. And as Thomas continues to latch on to Black Hat for advice and guidance, he will be all the more easier to turn fully when the time comes.

 

_ Sleep well, child. _

 


	9. Painful Confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Thomas begins to question Black Hat's motives, he confronts the demon, whose only response is the suggestion for the boy to seek out the C.A.P.A. to answer his questions if the boy deems him so untrustworthy. Little does Thomas know, he'd be wearing a timebomb to his reunion with the Agency...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to split Chapter 9 into two different chapters, as I didn’t realize how much plot I’d be writing (originally I was intending the majority of the chapter to be smut) so I decided to make Chapter 10 all NSFW and Chapter 11 would end up being the last chapter.

Nocturne had woken up in the arms of Black Hat for the third time that week, this was becoming a norm for them. Black Hat would send Nocturne out for some air, Nocturne would do something “bad” again and come home a wreck, and Black Hat would be there to pick up the pieces. 

 

Nocturne was beginning to think that he didn’t really even care about what he’d done, and that some part of him was forcing him to do it so he’d be able to make a quick escape back into the arms of Black Hat. After all, wasn’t the demon the only stable part of his life right now? He always seemed to be so caring, so fatherly, so... _ fuck.  _

 

Thomas needed to get his head out of the gutter, what the hell was it about the demon that was doing this to him? He’d thought he’d known better than to do this to himself. He, who usually had all his wits about him even in the worst of times, was falling for Black Hat. His mind was beginning to become numb to the fact that he’d been openly slaughtering criminals in the night, filled instead with thoughts of the demon doing... _ things  _ to him. And whenever he shook the cobwebs away he’d find the bodies sitting there unmoving, then it would be time to go back to Black Hat, mope around for a bit as the demon comforted him. 

 

He’d barely made an effort to visit the agency yet. Not that they’d really care. They’d probably just try to arrest him on the spot. Thomas snarled at the thought of Lykan, and the typical disappointed look he knew would be plastered to his face.  _ Fuck that fruit! What has he ever done for you anyways! He  _ abandoned  _ you! He let Amy die! Amy…. _

 

Oh,  _ Amy. _ He’d nearly forgotten about her...h-how could he have forgotten about her? He’d been so preoccupied with all of Black Hat’s musings...gushing with praise every night he’d come home bloody and bruised, whispering sweet nothings into his ear as they lay in bed together...

 

Wait a second,  _ home?!  _ Was Thomas seriously beginning to consider this place his home? No, his home was with  _ her _ , with Amy. He loved her...and he just let her memory rot with Nocturne.  _ Nocturne _ ….yes, everyone had forgotten about him hadn’t they? CAPA barely even made an effort to find him, just like they’d barely made an effort to save  _ her _ . 

 

He’d find a way to make them pay for his loss. He’d show them where they made their fatal mistake...yes, Black Hat would be so  _ proud  _ of him afterwards... 

 

What?! What the  _ fuck  _ was he talking about!? Jesus, he was turning into some sort of obsessed drone. He shook the cobwebs out of his head, standing from the edge of his bed where he had been sitting before. He started for the door, grabbing his jacket before storming out the door.

 

He walked through the hallways with purpose, gripping his jacket in his hand as he did so. He barely even noticed Black Hat until he was right next to him.

 

“And where might you be heading so early in the afternoon,  _ Nocturne? _ ” Black Hat cocked an eyebrow at the boy, who was walking with such fervor. “Out.” Thomas simply says, clearly agitated about something as he didn’t even look at Black Hat. The demon pursed his lips at the sight, looking the boy from bottom to top as he walked off, silently savoring his figure as he strutted off.

 

“Thomas?” Black Hat says in a hard voice, the boy stopping, however not turning around, a white knuckle grip on his jacket. “Be careful.” The demon simply says, before turning around and walking back towards his office. Thomas releases his harsh grip on his jacket, sighing to himself as he begins to put the jacket on whilst walking out the door and into the crisp late winter air.

It didn’t take him long to get to his old apartment, finding it deathly quiet once he stepped inside. He could see his breath coming out of his mouth as he lowered his hoodie, looking around quietly. He sighs as he sees Amy’s baseball bat, still leaning against the wall in its usual place. She always had a fiery spirit, he supposed that’s why he was with her, he wanted someone who would be able to put up with his crap on a daily.

 

He walks into the kitchen, where there were a few photos of the two of them stuck to the fridge with cheap dollar store fridge magnets. He smiled at a photo of the two of them in front of the Gateway Arch last fall. That had been the last really nice date the two of them had been on.

 

_ Hey, you jerk!  _ Amy shouts as Thomas playfully shoves her from behind, though immediately wrapping his arms around her waist, they were standing in front of a window inside the Arch.  _ Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall.  _ He grins, resting his head in the crook of her neck.  _ Thomas Drake, you are really something.  _ The girl says, pretending to be irritated even though the smile on her face says otherwise.  _ I know. You love me though.  _ He says matter-of-factly, to which Amy scoffs. 

 

Thomas stares at the picture, relishing in the thought of Amy’s smile, until he is thrust out of the memory from the sound of the lights turning on in the apartment. Thomas whips around, reaching for the gun under the counter, suddenly realizing it wasn’t there.

 

“Looking for this?” A female voice greets Thomas’ ears as he looks up to see a woman slightly older than Amy, who looked exactly like her, save for the dirty blonde hair atop her head. Slightly sticking out of her purse with her hand gripping the handle was the gun that was normally hidden in the cabinet under the kitchen counter. Thomas eyes the woman over once more before he recognizes her.

 

“Jen?” He says in disbelief, she gives him a sad smile. “Hey, Tommy.” She breathes, putting the gun back into her purse, Thomas takes a step forwards, realizing Jennifer is the first person he’d spoken to besides Black Hat since the accident. When she looks up once more into Thomas’ eyes, tears start to stream out of her own as she embraces Thomas.

 

Jennifer was the second oldest sister of Amy’s, and was also the one she was most closest with out of her entire family. Thomas had met her a few Christmases ago, and had talked with her at a few family functions. She was fun to talk with, even more so when Amy was around. They were like best friends, and he couldn’t possibly imagine how Amy’s death had impacted her.

 

They sat down on the couch together, Jen explaining how she had been taking care of the apartment after Amy’s death and Thomas’ disappearance. When she asked him about where he’d been, he explained that the same accident that had killed Amy put him into a coma, and he woke up months later, needing time to process everything that had happened. Coming back here was a way of coping with her death.

 

However, at the comment about Amy dying in an accident, Jennifer falters. “Accident? Tommy...are you sure you’re remembering things correctly?” Thomas tilts his head, brow creased. “Wh-What do you mean?” He asks, confused. Jen sets her glass of wine on the coffee table, biting her lip, figuring that Thomas had really hit his head pretty hard in whatever ‘accident’ he was in.

 

“Thomas….Amy was murdered.” Thomas’ face pales, his fingers tingling as he goes numb. “Wh….What?” He stammers, staring through Jenniffer in his frozen state. Jennifer pouts her lip, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Thomas...I know this might be a lot to take in, especially considering what you’ve been through, but…It’s been six months...you’re saying you had no idea this whole time?” Jen asks in a soft voice, staring into Thomas’ unreadable eyes.

 

“I….I need to go.” Thomas says, standing up from the couch abruptly, already at the door and putting his jacket on, leaving Jen confused as to how one can move so fast, but she was more concerned about his mental state at this point. 

 

_ He lied to you _ . Thomas thinks to himself as he walks down the halls of the apartment towards the elevator, not even waiting for the doors to open as he shadow-steps through them, floating upwards and out of the building through an exhaust vent. 

 

_ This entire time, he’s been playing you for a fool.  _ Thomas blinks the tears out of his eyes. How could he have been so fucking  _ stupid?!  _ He made no time in arriving back at the manor, bursting straight through the doors into Black Hat’s office. Black Hat doesn’t even look up from the stack of letters he’d been signing.

 

“Back so soon Thomas?” He says, monocle fitted to his left eye as he reads the fine print of a letter from a client.

 

“ _ Liar!”  _ Thomas seethes through gritted teeth as he storms into the room. “Thought you could  _ trick  _ me into becoming your little lapdog! Somehow  _ imprint  _ some false loyalty into me by telling half-truths and whispering  _ false praise _ to keep me quiet!” Black Hat sighs, folding his papers as Thomas has his little fit.

 

“Thomas, how about you  _ explain  _ to me what you are so distraught about instead of throwing a tantrum in the middle of my office.” Black Hat sets the papers aside, folding his hands as he takes his monocle off, staring at the boy now with both of his onyx daggers.

 

Thomas was practically ripping his hair out with rage. “Amy wasn’t killed in some  _ accident! _ She was  _ murdered!  _ Why didn’t you tell me that! Why?! I loved her, Christian!” Black Hat sneers at the mention of the word  _ love _ as if the youth had any concept of it whatsoever. “That  _ girl _ was nothing more than an unwelcome distraction, keeping you from evolving into your truest form. You think you know love? Because I do, and I can tell you right now what you had with that  _ pathetic  _ waste of oxygen was nothing of the sort.” These words came from the heart, it would seem, as the thought of anyone other than him having Thomas was completely off the table for him.

  
Thomas, through furious eyes wet with tears of agony, “How can you  _ say  _ that?” He sounded utterly crushed, “she  _ died  _ for  _ me!”  _ Black Hat frowns slightly hearing this, was he starting to remember the events of that night, or was that just a slip up? “I thought you would understand, I thought we were  _ friends _ , more than friends even, but friends don’t  _ lie  _ to each other do they?” Thomas laments. Black Hat stands from his chair, phasing through the desk, and is in front of Thomas in an instant, grabbing his arms, the betrayal in the boys eyes reminding him of his past lover.

 

“Get off! Don’t touch me with your  _ filthy fucking claws!” _ Tears dripping down his face, not even able to look Black Hat in the eyes. “Thomas,” the demon says in a soft voice, “look at me,” Thomas swallows roughly, barely able to bring his eyes up to meet the demon’s own, “I would never lie to you. Everything I have done, I have done to protect you. To protect  _ us. _ ” the way the monster says that, it sounds to Thomas like he’s said it once before. If only he knew.

 

Black Hat brings his clawed hands up to the boys face, thumbs wiping away the tears as he stares into them, before sighing, letting him go. “Fine, if you choose not to believe me, that is your choice. Go to your Agency, ask your Director what really happened. Take the suit, even. Just come back to me once you have your wits about you.” Black Hat turns his back to the boy, who stares at the demon, sniffling. He takes a few hasty steps backwards before exploding into shadows and fleeing the room.

 

Black Hat smiles to himself, calmly walking to his desk, where he taps the intercom button. “Flug, it’s time.”

  
  


**_CAPA Headquarters, St. Louis, MO_ **

 

It had been a quiet night for Director Lykan at the Agency, although one could argue that every night since Agent Drake’s disappearance had been a quiet one, even on busy nights. Everyone had been affected by the tragedy. The agents had no one to look up to, making morale low, the atmosphere of the entire building stale and depressing.

 

Cornelius sighed, staring down at the nighttime lights of the city. Everything seemed darker without Thomas’ glow to light up their lives. He frowns however, when he hears the emergency line going off at his desk. What could the emergency possibly be?

 

“Lykan speaking.” He simply says, being greeted to a frantic voice at the other end of the line, a young agent at the front desk. “Sir! A man in a green mask just walked in through the front door, he said he wanted to speak with you, and he isn’t taking no for an answer! We already have four agents in critical condition. I think he’s that new vigilante that the police put an APB out for a few months back!” The agent, her name was Summer, if he remembered correctly. “Thanks Agent Hill, tell every agent under Class 3 authorization they should evacuate, I can handle this.” If this intruder was who Lykan thought he was, he didn’t want anyone who weren’t trained for something like this to get caught in the crossfire.

 

The door suddenly burst open and the room is shrouded in darkness. Lykan grabs the pistol hidden in a compartment under his desk, aiming at the door. “Show yourself.” He demands, and sure enough a figure makes its way through the smoke, green biolights shining through the dark.

 

“Hello, Director Lykan.” The spectre says in a metallic, gravelly voice, filtered through his mask. He was breathing heavily, as if in anticipation. 

 

Thomas had been waiting for this moment for awhile now, panting in anticipation, which was abnormal for him, but he couldn’t notice through the angry haze clouding his vision.

 

“Have we met?” Lykan says levelly to the masked man before him, his grip on his gun unfaltering. The figure chuckles a deathly laugh. 

 

“If only you knew, Lykan. If only you had any grasp on the utter  _ travesty  _ of your actions.” Thomas spat in a poisonous tone. The director’s grip on his gun tightened. “I’m afraid you’ll have to elaborate.” Lykan pressed a button under his desk that would broadcast the vitals of anyone in the office directly to Dr. Chakwa, intending on getting a steadier grip on the situation via a doctor’s knowledge. 

 

Thomas began pacing back and forth, looking like some sort of demented bird of prey with his hunched form and cocked neck glaring daggers at the director. Lykan was hardly listening to whatever monologue the man was spouting at him, for by this time the direct line between he and his wife had been opened up. 

 

“Cornelius?” Doctor Chakwa says in a nervous voice, nervous at the situation that was playing out, even though she had a camera feed on the room along with vitals of either of the two men. “Well you’re obviously here for something, spit it out.” Cornelius says, making sure the doctor could hear him without openly speaking to her, wanting to avoid further aggravating the man in front of him, who cackles at the question.

 

“You are ignorant, Lykan. But then again, you were never really able to see the big picture anyways were you? Always taking it from your superiors who had an iron grip on that stick up your ass, in turn bossing everyone around pretending you were the one who was really in charge.” Thomas spat, fuming.

 

“Cornelius, he’s under the influence of some kind of steroid hallucinogen. It looks as if the majority of it is located in his hypothalamus. It looks like it's designed to provoke an angry reaction to all outside stimuli. You’re going to need to tread carefully if you’re going to further your conversation with him.” The doctor says to Cornelius, continuing to monitor either of the men’s vitals, worried for her husband’s health.

 

“-and who better to orchestrate that than the CAPA Director himself?” Lykan tunes back in to whatever the man in front of him was rambling about, something seeming familiar about the way he spoke.  _ Could it be?  _ “I honestly don’t know how I hadn’t thought if it earlier, but it all makes sense now.” Thomas cackles, getting ready to make his point. 

 

“Wait a minute,” Dr. Chakwa says, as she reads into the mysterious figure’s vitals more clearly. “I recognize this file…” She says to herself as she begins to cross reference it with all Agency medical files on hand, gasping when she realizes who this was.

 

“I guess, I just came here to ask you,” Thomas says, bringing his hand to his neck, pressing a button as the facemask starts to fold away from his head, Lykan’s eyes widening.

 

“How much you enjoyed leaving me to rot with that  _ demon?”  _ Thomas Drake asks Lykan, standing in front of him now. He was done hiding. 

 

“Thomas?!” Lykan and Dr. Chakwa exclaim at the same time.

 

Thomas grins a fanged grin, his arms out to his sides as his suit of armor folds away revealing himself completely. “The one and the same.” He says darkly, “Here to get the fucking story straight, once and for all.” Growling, he steps towards Lykan, who couldn’t bring himself to raise his gun on the boy. Thomas steps around the table, peering at the director as Lykan mimics his movements, trying to keep his distance whilst dealing with the shock at seeing the boy he presumed dead all these months for the first time since he failed to rescue him.

 

“Yeah that’s right. Take it all in, you too doctor, I know you can hear me.” he says, turning to the camera hidden in the corner of the room. Doctor Chakwa starts sobbing as soon as she sees his green eyes peering back at her through the CCTV.

 

“Speaking of the good doctor, I’ve had a question on my mind that I’ve been dying to ask her,” Thomas says whilst still stalking after Lykan like a panther in the dark. “Did you try at  _ all _ to save her? Or did you just let her wither away and die like you let that  _ monster _ take me as his own consolation prize for his troubles?” Dr. Chakwa couldn’t handle it anymore, she couldn’t talk to him like this. She threw the headset she’d been wearing down and rushed to the nearest elevator.

 

Thomas chuckles turning back to look at Lykan. “Thomas, Anaya did everything she could to save her. She was too far gone by the time she got to us.” Thomas growls hearing these words. “Bullshit! You didn’t care about anyone but yourself the entire time I worked in this dump!” Thomas shouts through his drug induced haze.

Anaya Chakwa rushed through the halls of the agency headquarters, rushing to get to her husband’s office, face blanching in horror as she rounds the corner to see half a dozen agents already at the door. “NO!” She screams as she hears gunshots being fired.

 

Thomas lolls his head to the side, hearing the doors to the room slam open. “Pests.” He mutters as shadows extend out of his hand like tentacles and throw a few of the agents to the side. However, in his stupor, he’d forgotten that he was no longer encased in his armor, therefore he’d forgotten the need to phase through the incoming bullets. The first one hit him like a dozen punches to the gut, and his eyes widen, shadows dispersing from the room as he looks down in shock. Another one caught him in the shoulder, and spun him around, stumbling backwards towards the window that had been shattered open by the spray of bullets. The last one grazed his neck, and sent him stumbling out the window, and into the night skyline of St. Louis...

 


	10. [NSFW] Surgery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas returns to Black Hat bloody and wounded, the demon taking it upon himself to mend the boy- in more than one way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, I was intending on releasing both this and Chapter 9 together seeing as how they were originally the same thing but I decided to go back and rework some of the stuff in this chapter so we kinda go out with a bang. Next chapter will be the last chapter ;_; I know, and it only took me 10 months to finish xD. 11 will indefinitely be the longest, as it will have the most plot out of all of the chapters thus far (I imagine 5,000+ words ballpark). Anyways, enjoy your smut kids ;)

Black Hat had been in the middle of de-escalating an idiotic argument between Demencia and Flug when he heard the crash of Thomas Drake landing in a bloodied heap on the mansion floor, causing Demencia to scream in surprise from the sudden intrusion, jumping all the way to the ceiling with her inhuman agility, as she had been the closest to the shadow-walking teen. 

 

Black Hat immediately rushes to his side, growling. “Thomas, you idiot, what have you done?” Thomas gasps, choking on his own breath, trying to speak to Black Hat, but he was bleeding profusely out of his neck, the smell intoxicating to the demon, more than he’d like at that current moment.

 

“I’m...S-Sorry Bl-ackk..” Thomas gags, coughing up blood before slipping into unconsciousness. Black notices the bullet holes, and fairly quickly figured what had happened. “Black Hat, sir, he needs immediate medical attention, I advise we take him to my lab for immedi-” Flug is cut off by Black Hat’s snarl of a response. “That  _ won’t  _ be necessary Dr. Flug. I will handle this. And if either of you disrupt me in my doing so, I will personally make sure you look worse than him afterwards.” He says before standing with Thomas in his arms, shadow-walking them to his room. 

 

A tentacle slides out of his back and wipes the contents from the surface of a nearby table, in favor of placing Thomas on it instead. It takes a single one of Black Hat’s claws to rip the fabric from the boy’s flesh. “Oh, Thomas.” Black Hat sighs in mock pity. He knew this would happen, he wouldn’t have sent Thomas off while he was in his semi-right mind if he didn’t. Of course, that’s what the suit was for. The scentless neurotic that he’d instructed Flug to fit in the filters of the suit had ensured that his plan would not have any unwanted detours, and that he could control Thomas’ outbreaks at the press of a button.

 

The boy beneath him groans in pain, his skin practically rippling as he shakes every time one of Black Hat’s many limbs feels his body. He was burning up now, and Black Hat knew he would need to remove the bullets himself, but not without a little  _ sedative _ first. Black Hat bites his lip, the boy covered in his own blood never looked so  _ enticing _ before. Morbid, one would think, that Black Hat got off to his ward’s pain, but what could he say? He was a sadist at heart.

 

Black Hat smirks as a tentacle wriggles against Thomas’ abdomen, slowly digging under the skin where the bullet was lodged. “NNnh!” Thomas groans, his brow tightening in pain. The demon breathes in the boy’s fear and pain as he toys with him a bit longer, before deciding he’d had enough fun. He gets on top of the large table, straddling the boy as he prepares to remove the foreign objects from the boy’s body. The demon gazes down at Thomas, admiring his semi-conscious face suspended in a continuous state of pain, before leaning in and kissing him, clawed hands running through the short hair on either side of his head. 

 

The pain immediately stopped for Thomas, the muscles in his face relaxing as the tentacles attached to his chest root out the foreign items lodged inside him, the bullet holes immediately closing up afterwards. Thomas moans gently through the kiss, hands sliding up to the sides of the demon’s head.

 

Black Hat pulls away from the kiss, opening his eyes to stare back at Thomas, who dropped his hands with a frown. The boy was still in a semi-conscious haze from both the trauma of being shot to hell and the after effects of the mental linking. The scent emanating from the young human was nearly making him salivate with desire, and Black Hat began to feel a slight stirring in his groin at the soft noises the boy was making in his sleep.

 

“You were right…” Nocturne mutters, frowning slightly as he yawns, stretching his arms out as if he’d just awoken from the longest nap ever “Lykan, he…” Thomas creases his brow in anger and betrayal. “They betrayed me...I-I should have listened to you, I...” His voice trails off as he opens his eyes, groggily looking up at Black Hat, who was giving him a kind look, at least from his point of view, in reality Black Hat was feeling a burning heat between his legs, and the guilty look Thomas was wearing on his face was only turning him on even further…

 

Thomas sighs, “I shut you out… Blamed you for everything when all you were trying to do was protect me from  _ them. _ ” Thomas brings a hand to his forehead, the thought of it making him sick. He runs his hands through his hair, pouting, exposing his chest to the demon absentmindedly as he feels his tear ducts threaten to explode once more.

 

“Christian…” Thomas mewls, eyes glazing back over to the monster, who freezes, his stare unmoving as his pupils dilate like a shark to bloody waters when called by that name. Black Hat’s eyes lazily roll down to peer at the display before him, purring in reply “ _ Yesss _ … _? _ ”

 

“I-...hah..” Thomas chokes, “I’m soo...so sorry…” Thomas says in a breathy voice that Black Hat could feel against his face, his nostrils flaring at the sensation. “F-For doubting you...I don’t-  _ fuck _ ...I don’t understand how I could have been so  _ stupid! _ ” He suddenly leans up from the table, hugging the demon, sniffling once more as the tears stream from his face.

 

“I don’t know how I can ever repay you for being so kind Christian.” There he goes again, using that  _ fucking name,  _ the little cocktease. Black Hat was practically springing from his pants right now in anticipation.

 

“Well~” Black Hat starts in a husky voice, picking the boy up in a way that should force the young man to wrap his legs around his waist, “I think you’ve done more than enough to repay me,  _ Thomass…”  _ the demon says in a serpentine way, reliving that night they spent together many months ago in his head. That had been the last time he’d been in sexual contact with anyone, and though his species could last a long while between sessions, Black Hat couldn’t wait much longer.

 

Thomas yips in response to being suddenly picked up, but hugs onto Black Hat anyways as he’s brought to the bed. “Stop flattering me...I’m a terrible houseguest...you can admit it.” Thomas sighs, and Black Hat purrs in response, as he places himself above the boy, staring down at him, Thomas blushing slightly. “I think you flatter yourself.” Black Hat says, tongue flitting across Thomas’ neck, causing the teen to giggle slightly in embarrassment.

 

“Yeah?” Thomas bites his lip, unaware of the many tentacles beginning to sprout from Black Hat’s back, a few of them beginning to play with Thomas’ hair as the demon opens his mouth to speak again, practically drooling. “Mmmn...yesss~” Black Hat breathes in the boy’s scent. Why did he smell so much like her? He had the same strawberry-rose scent as her, mixed in with the boys own vibrant lavender-hibiscus.  _ Delicious… _

 

Inky black tendrils slowly began tickling at the boy, allowing Thomas to think that this was some sort of endearing game from a  _ father-figure,  _ oh, yes, the demon knew well what dirty thoughts Thomas had locked away inside his head, the little scamp. The link he’d performed on the boy made sure of that. He didn’t blame him though, in fact, some of those thoughts were arguably the reason Black Hat was feeling such recent sexual energies emerging inside of him.

 

Thomas was cackling by now, “S-Stoppit!” He mewls like a cat, “Is this s-seriously my penance for being such a dick? God you’re such a cliche Christian.” The cold tendrils nipping at his naked chest causing him to squirm underneath the demon, doing nothing to dull the stirring in Black Hat’s pants.

 

Thomas squirms under the demon, mischievous eyes looking back up at him with a glint. “Though...I suppose you playing  _ doctor _ more than made up for that...Otherwise I wouldn’t be shirtless right now would I?” The boy teases, beginning to catch on to the demon’s little game by the second.

 

Black Hat laughs a breathy laugh at the young man. It would be useless soon enough, the demon above the boy looking much like a predator about to pounce on its prey. The tendrils slowly begin to halt their erratic movements, and rather started wrapping around Thomas’ limbs, slowly tightening to keep him in place.

 

Thomas, still coming down from his high, begins to notice this, biting his lip as the demon simply smiles at him. Noticing the sudden, labored breathing of the demon. He feels something nudge his hips, and freezes, face tingling as he looks down at the demon’s pelvis rubbing slowly against his own.

 

“B-Black Hat, uhm-ohhh~” He pants slightly feeling tentacles beginning to slide under the hem of his pants and around his thighs. “Uh...what, ah, what are you doing?” Thomas asks, biting his lip softly. “Shhh~” Black Hat responds, drawing up his clawed hand to stroke the side of the boys face, bringing his thumb down to the boys’ lower lip.

Thomas flushes, his face turning red as the tendrils slowly begin to accost him. “You’ve been such a good boy for me, Thomas,  _ oh  _ I just  _ had  _ to reward you somehow…” Black Hat purrs, onyx orbs flitting across the boy’s submissive form.

 

“Oh...w-wow, that’s...nice? Of you? B-but I reeaaally don’t thi-” Thomas was cut off by a clawed hand wrapping around his throat. No offense to the boy, but he  _ really  _ wasn’t going to ruin this for him with another snide remark. The boy’s eyes fill with sudden fear at the hand around his neck, fearing he’d done something wrong.

 

“Thomas...when I offer you a reward...just  _ take it _ .” Black Hat breathes the last two words into Thomas’ ear, tongue flicking at the boy’s earlobe. He lets go of his throat, his hand trailing down to the boy’s chest, where his hand stops on his pectoral, slowly sliding the youth’s nipple between a clawed thumb and forefinger. This causes Thomas’s breath to hitch.

 

“Y..Yes, sir.” Thomas suddenly says, not even know why he called the demon “sir”. He wasn’t an employee of his, nor was he anything like that flake, Dr. Flug, constantly hiding in fear of Black Hat’s torment. The demon seemed to like it however, purring in approval.

 

“What was that,  _ Thomas? _ ” He taunts, cackling in a low voice. “W-whuh…?” Thomas started feeling dizzy, his body beginning to react to the monster’s foreplay.

 

“Ohh, it’s okay, I know you’re... _ confused.”  _ Black Hat says, drawing out the last word in a serpentine way. “And I know...you feel  _ helpless… _ ” Black Hat explains through the youth’s haze, Thomas not really understanding what was going on, feeling more tentacles start to pull at the brim of his pants, fiddling with his zippier.

 

“But I’m going to make you….mmn,  _ better.”  _ Black Hat’s long tongue lolls out of his mouth, coated in a strange black liquid. “Black Hat...w-wait-GK” Thomas starts, but Black Hat shoves his muscle into the boy’s mouth, the boy almost instantly turning to jelly in the demon’s grip. Whatever was coated around his tongue certainly seemed to be doing the trick, Thomas was already beginning to see double.

 

“ _ Fffffuuuck~”  _ Thomas opens his eyes, verdant orbs shining with a new energy behind them. Black Hat’s tongue lolls out of the boy’s open mouth, leaving a trail of saliva as it travels down, wrapping around the boy’s neck, displaying its impressive length. 

 

Thomas pushes his hips against Black Hat’s pelvis in reaction, causing a primal growl of pleasure to erupt from the demon, vibrating the two bodies, and sending waves of pleasure into the boy beneath him. 

  
The last time they had done this, Black Hat had been in complete control, but now there was nothing other than the driving, pulsating need to take the boy. He knew before this he’d have to be careful not to break him...but he didn’t know if he could contain himself much longer from the temptation.

 

Thomas mewls at the feeling of the demon’s tongue slipping behind his ear playfully, the whispering words of the creature registering in his ears like an echo through the sexual haze. “Tell me what you want, Thomas…” Black Hat groans, almost a plead as he rubs his hips against the boy, careful not to hurt him with his impressive strength.

 

Thomas turns to whisper into Black Hat’s slitted ear in the lowest voice possible, a weak voice filled with years of neglect and hurt. “Make me  _ yours _ , Christian _. _ ” He pleads in the same voice as  _ her _ . Black Hat’s eyes widened in pure want as he purrs so loudly it almost sounded like a roar to Thomas. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to care for the boy, to be a source of comfort to him, to make him  _ his _ .

 

He quickly got to work, kissing into his neck softly, nibbling enough to give him a hickey but not enough to draw blood. Thomas moaned next to his ear, spreading his legs more as Black Hat used his own hands this time to undo the boy’s pants, most of his own clothing already ripped off by the tentacles extending out of his own body.

 

Their naked bodies mesh together, the large, slick tentacle protruding from the demon’s pelvis wrapping around Thomas’ own member, causing the boy to whimper in pleasure. Black Hat kisses the boy to silence him, to which the younger complies. 

 

Thomas drapes his arms over the demon’s shoulders, deepening the kiss as he feels the tentacles that had been holding him in place begin to play with other parts of his body. The young man moans through the kiss, separating to breath out a frantic request, “Christian, please I c-I can’t wait any longer.  _ I need you _ .” The boy pleads, this being the breaking point for Black Hat.

 

He thrusts into him, rousing a surprised gasp from the boy as he digs his fingers into the demon’s back. “Christian!” He breathes as tentacles wrap around his member, servicing him with enthusiasm as the boy moans. The ancient knew Thomas most likely wouldn’t be able to endure much more of this, though the demon’s stamina could keep him going for hours. They’d have to work on Thomas’s endurance at a later date. After all, he expected much more of this in the future.

 

Thomas was in utter bliss, the teen not having ever felt this much raw sexual energy from another partner before. Christian certainly was something. Another blinding wave of pleasure hits him and he exhales in a shaky voice, staring up at the demon who grunts as he thrusts into the boy once more.

 

The demon grins a passing grin, sharp teeth glinting in the light of the room as he bends down, licking at the boy’s neck, before sinking his teeth in gently to nibble at the boy’s succulent flesh. Thomas gasps, holding a hand over his mouth, the pain mixing with the pleasure as the monster claims him. Black Hat suckles the blood emanating from the wound before rising once more, chuckling at the boy’s feeble attempts to cope with all of the sensations the man was giving him. Black Hat removes Thomas’s hand from his mouth, “I want to hear  _ all _ of those pretty noises that mouth of yours can make.” He cooes, before wrapping a clawed hand around the youth’s neck, gently squeezing.

 

Thomas’s eyes turn slightly red, watering up “Guk...haah~” He mewls, the demon letting a chuckle vibrate out of his chest as he thrusts into the boy again. “There it is~” The demon teases, keeping his charcoal hand wrapped snugly around the boy’s throat.

 

He feels himself getting closer, though he could tell from the amount of pre soaking into his midsection that the boy was more than ready. “Tell me what you want Thomas.” He whispers into Thomas’s ear, eyes half closed in anticipation of his response.

 

“P-please..” Thomas chokes out, looking at the demon pleadingly. “Please  _ what?”  _ Black Hat pushes, thrusting himself slightly deeper in emphasis, holding himself there momentarily so as to deny the boy any further pleasure until he answers him.

 

“L-let me cummnn!” The teen pleads, rubbing his pelvis against the creature’s navel. Black Hat smirks, beginning to thrust in and out of the boy again, picking up the pace to bring on his own climax faster. He brings his other hand around the boy’s throat, squeezing _ tight _ . Thomas squirms, the length inside him going deeper with every thrust, until it hits  _ that  _ spot and he screams through the clawed hands constricting his throat. Blinding hot fire sears through his body as he erupts, eyes rolling back into his skull.

 

Black Hat snarls, reaching his own orgasm as he emptied himself inside the boy, drenching the boy’s insides with copious amounts of alien seed. He grabs the boy, bringing his limp and used body upwards as he continues thrusting until every drop is spent inside the young man. 

 

Thomas pants, moaning in between breaths from the shock of it all as continues to get pounded from the demon, the man’s arms wrapped around the boy’s lithe body. Black Hat finally begins to slow his pace, still holding onto the boy, knowing what would come next as he tightened his grip on the boy.

 

Thomas was barely conscious when he felt the sensation of being stretched even further. Tiny tentacles were branching off of the large one embedded in his gut, seeking out the nerve endings they desired. The feeling hits him like a truck, eyes widening as he shouts in shock.

 

“ _ What the fuuhh~”  _ Thomas’s eyes lid themselves as his nerve endings are attacked, being pleasured to their fullest extent, Black Hat smirking as he breathes in the youth’s scent. “A perk of my species’ reproductive system. It is meant to stimulate a chosen mate to encourage them to revisit the same mate in future.” He explains, Thomas barely even hearing him through the thumping waves of pleasure.

 

“I trust I have succeeded in that goal?” Black Hat chuckles, licking at the boy’s neck playfully as the smaller tentacles begin to secede, allowing him to slowly pull out. “ **Fuck,** **_yes._ ** ” He mutters, causing the demon to hum in approval. “Good choice.” He lays the boy down, Thomas asleep practically the second his head hits the plush pillow. Black Hat sighs with a tut, tut.

 

By the time Black Hat had finished cleaning the two of them up, he was ready to go another round, another perk of his alien biology. But the boy was sleeping, and it would be indecent to force him awake so soon. But the boy just looked so  _ edible. _ He certainly had acquired more than one talent from the late Anastasia. 

 

Black Hat chuckles to himself, he could have his fun and not wake up the boy, couldn’t he? He leans over the boy, tongue lolling out of his maw, coated in the same aphrodisiac as earlier, just in case. He slips the tip of his tongue into Thomas’s mouth, coating the inside with the sweet tasting substance, the boy moaning in his sleep at the sensation.

 

The demon’s eyes glinted darkly in anticipation as he strokes himself once before nudging at the boy’s entrance, causing only light stirring from Thomas. This would be  _ fun.  _ He pushes himself all the way in slowly, the warmth of the boy’s tightness causing the demon to purr. He slowly begins pumping his way back and forth, the boy still in a deep haze, the chemical he’d coated his mouth with working wonders.

 

Black Hat was able to fully enjoy himself now without the needs of the boy causing him to end things sooner. Humans were so weak, he thought, finding himself wishing Thomas had inherited Anastasia’s stamina as well. He chuckled, that woman sure had been quite the spitfire back in her day.

 

Black Hat went on like that, using the boy’s entrance for his own pleasure as he slept, not paying attention to how much time had passed, for he only had his mind on one thing at the moment. He picked up his pace, thrusting into Thomas with more vigor, hissing when he finally does climax, pumping his essence into the youth, feeling just as good as the first time.

 

The sensation, however, of the secondary tendrils extending from Black Hat’s member once more as they seek out the nearest nerve endings was enough to begin to rouse the boy however, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he’s brought back to consciousness panting. He opens his eyes to stare at the demon, who had a weak and spent look in his onyx eyes.

 

A smirk finds its way to Thomas’s dazed face at the face the demon was making, “Couldn’t wait, could you?” He teases. “Well, you’re in luck, because, uh…” He points at his own member which was standing at attention in between the two of them. “I’m ready for round three.” He whispers into Black Hat’s ear before flipping the two of them over, Black Hat still sheathed inside him as he begins gyrating his hips seductively.

 

“And this time,  _ I’m  _ topping.” he drawls, Black Hat staring at the boy in astonishment at how quick he’d literally gotten back on the horse, before chuckling darkly as he brings his claws to the teen’s hips.

 

Perhaps the teen had more of Anastasia in him than the demon had previously thought...

 


End file.
